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.
1990s Italian Space Age Furniture
Stainless Steel, Metal, Aluminum
1990s Swiss Space Age Furniture
Textile, Ultrasuede
1990s Dutch Space Age Furniture
Chrome, Metal
1990s Italian Space Age Furniture
Metal, Chrome
1990s French Space Age Furniture
Metal
1990s Italian Space Age Furniture
Steel
1990s Italian Space Age Furniture
Plastic
1990s Space Age Furniture
Plywood
1990s Italian Space Age Furniture
Plastic
1990s Italian Space Age Furniture
Aluminum
1990s German Space Age Furniture
Metal
1990s Italian Space Age Furniture
Plastic
1990s German Space Age Furniture
Metal
1990s Belgian Space Age Furniture
Steel, Chrome
1990s Unknown Space Age Furniture
Metal
1990s Dutch Space Age Furniture
Metal, Chrome
1990s French Space Age Furniture
Paper
1990s Italian Space Age Furniture
Glass, Wood
1990s Italian Space Age Furniture
Steel
1990s Italian Space Age Furniture
Metal
1990s French Space Age Furniture
Aluminum
1990s Italian Space Age Furniture
Plastic
1990s Italian Space Age Furniture
Brass
1990s Japanese Space Age Furniture
Steel
1990s American Space Age Furniture
Metal
1990s Italian Space Age Furniture
Brass
1990s French Space Age Furniture
Wool, Cotton
1990s American Space Age Furniture
Suede, Upholstery
1990s Italian Space Age Furniture
Aluminum
1960s American Vintage Space Age Furniture
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Space Age Furniture
Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Space Age Furniture
Fiberglass
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Space Age Furniture
Wood
Mid-20th Century British Space Age Furniture
Steel
1950s French Vintage Space Age Furniture
Rope
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Space Age Furniture
Resin
1990s French Space Age Furniture
Chrome
1990s Swedish Space Age Furniture
Beech
1950s French Vintage Space Age Furniture
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Space Age Furniture
Metal
1990s French Space Age Furniture
Wool, Cotton
1990s Italian Space Age Furniture
Ultrasuede
1990s Finnish Space Age Furniture
Metal
1990s American Space Age Furniture
Suede, Upholstery
1990s Italian Space Age Furniture
Plastic
1990s Italian Space Age Furniture
Metal
1990s French Space Age Furniture
Steel
1990s Dutch Space Age Furniture
Metal, Aluminum
1990s Japanese Space Age Furniture
Fabric
1990s Space Age Furniture
Plastic
1990s Italian Space Age Furniture
Leather
1990s Italian Space Age Furniture
Metal