Space Age Furniture
Vintage Space Age furniture captured post–World War II optimism with swooping shapes, bowed lines and experimentation with new materials including plastic and fiberglass.
From the launch of the Sputnik 1 satellite in 1957 to the landing of Apollo 11 astronauts on the moon in 1969, the space race between the Soviet Union and the United States propelled advancements in technology that transformed culture. Space Age design encompassed fashion, architecture, cars, furniture and objects for the home, bringing wonder and hope for the future into everyday life.
Coinciding with Pop art, Space Age style featured bold colors and forms. Eero Aarnio’s Ball chair, which debuted in 1966, used molded fiberglass for a capsule-like space while Verner Panton’s 1959 Panton chair was a single piece of molded plastic for a gravity-defying S shape. Red versions of Olivier Mourgue’s 1964 Djinn chair were futuristic enough to appear on the space station in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Today, Joe Colombo is revered as a master of modern Italian design thanks to the provocative modular furniture pieces he created, such as the Tube chair and the Elda armchair, both of which embody the future-forward spirit of the Space Age.
The Space Age spirit extended to home building too. The futuristic Case Study Houses, which were designed by the likes of Pierre Koenig, Charles and Ray Eames, Richard Neutra and Whitney R. Smith, are considered a high point of modernism and the Southern California lifestyle.
Sometimes the nods to space exploration were more literal, like moon and star motifs or the 1965 Eclisse lamp by Vico Magistretti that saw the mid-century Italian designer integrating a movable inner shade to “eclipse” the light source. Alongside the pioneering moon missions, JVC manufactured the Videosphere portable television reminiscent of the Apollo 11 space helmets.
Although the style faded in the 1970s — with the 1975 joining of the Apollo and Soyuz spacecrafts signaling a new era of cooperation and the global oil crisis impacting the availability of plastics — the era’s innovations influenced designers into the 21st century such as Zaha Hadid and Djivan Schapira.
Find a collection of vintage Space Age seating, tables, lighting and other furniture on 1stDibs.
2010s European Space Age Furniture
Alabaster
2010s American Space Age Furniture
Faux Fur, Mirror, Wood, Lacquer
2010s Italian Space Age Furniture
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Space Age Furniture
Animal Skin
21st Century and Contemporary Unknown Space Age Furniture
Marble
21st Century and Contemporary Unknown Space Age Furniture
Marble, Stainless Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Unknown Space Age Furniture
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Unknown Space Age Furniture
Marble, Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Turkish Space Age Furniture
Wool, Angora
21st Century and Contemporary Unknown Space Age Furniture
Marble, Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Unknown Space Age Furniture
Marble
21st Century and Contemporary European Space Age Furniture
Marble, Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary Unknown Space Age Furniture
Marble, Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Turkish Space Age Furniture
Wool, Angora
21st Century and Contemporary European Space Age Furniture
Marble
21st Century and Contemporary Unknown Space Age Furniture
Marble
21st Century and Contemporary European Space Age Furniture
Marble, Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary European Space Age Furniture
Metal
2010s Italian Space Age Furniture
Wrought Iron
2010s American Space Age Furniture
Faux Fur, Mirror, Wood, Lacquer
21st Century and Contemporary European Space Age Furniture
Metal
2010s American Space Age Furniture
Glass, Lacquer
21st Century and Contemporary Chinese Space Age Furniture
Wool
21st Century and Contemporary European Space Age Furniture
Wicker, Rattan, Fabric
