Modern Desks and Writing Tables
The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw sweeping social change and major scientific advances — both of which contributed to a new aesthetic: modernism. Rejecting the rigidity of Victorian artistic conventions, modernists sought a new means of expression. References to the natural world and ornate classical embellishments gave way to the sleek simplicity of the Machine Age. Architect Philip Johnson characterized the hallmarks of modernism as “machine-like simplicity, smoothness or surface [and] avoidance of ornament.”
Early practitioners of modernist design include the De Stijl (“The Style”) group, founded in the Netherlands in 1917, and the Bauhaus School, founded two years later in Germany.
Followers of both groups produced sleek, spare designs — many of which became icons of daily life in the 20th century. The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics. While Bauhaus principals Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created furniture from mass-produced, chrome-plated steel, American visionaries like Charles and Ray Eames worked in materials as novel as molded plywood and fiberglass. Today, Breuer’s Wassily chair, Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair — crafted with his romantic partner, designer Lilly Reich — and the Eames lounge chair are emblems of progressive design and vintage originals are prized cornerstones of collections.
It’s difficult to overstate the influence that modernism continues to wield over designers and architects — and equally difficult to overstate how revolutionary it was when it first appeared a century ago. But because modernist furniture designs are so simple, they can blend in seamlessly with just about any type of décor. Don’t overlook them.
1930s Finnish Vintage Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Birch, Bentwood
1960s Finnish Vintage Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Beech, Birch
1950s Italian Vintage Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Wood
1880s English Antique Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Leather, Oak
1940s Swedish Vintage Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Mahogany
1930s Finnish Vintage Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Birch
1930s Finnish Vintage Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Mirror, Birch
19th Century French Antique Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Brass
Mid-20th Century German Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Aluminum
19th Century Antique Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Lacquer
1960s Finnish Vintage Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Wood, Teak
20th Century Danish Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Teak
20th Century American Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Bamboo, Lacquer
2010s American Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Brass
Early 20th Century Finnish Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Birch
1930s Finnish Vintage Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Birch, Plywood
1930s Finnish Vintage Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Birch, Plywood