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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
2010s American Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Brass
2010s American Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Brass, Steel
2010s French Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Wood
2010s American Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Metal
1960s Norwegian Vintage Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Palisander
2010s French Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Slate, Brass
1920s French Vintage Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Bronze
20th Century American Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary English Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Oak, Leather
Late 17th Century Spanish Antique Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Iron
Mid-20th Century Danish Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Rosewood
1890s Chinese Antique Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Elm
Early 1900s English Antique Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Hardwood
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Walnut