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Post-Modern Side Tables

POSTMODERN STYLE

Postmodern design was a short-lived movement that manifested itself chiefly in Italy and the United States in the early 1980s. The characteristics of vintage postmodern furniture and other postmodern objects and decor for the home included loud-patterned, usually plastic surfaces; strange proportions, vibrant colors and weird angles; and a vague-at-best relationship between form and function.

ORIGINS OF POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGN

  • Emerges during the 1960s; popularity explodes during the ’80s
  • A reaction to prevailing conventions of modernism by mainly American architects
  • Architect Robert Venturi critiques modern architecture in his Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966)
  • Theorist Charles Jencks, who championed architecture filled with allusions and cultural references, writes The Language of Post-Modern Architecture (1977)
  • Italian design collective the Memphis Group, also known as Memphis Milano, meets for the first time (1980) 
  • Memphis collective debuts more than 50 objects and furnishings at Salone del Milano (1981)
  • Interest in style declines, minimalism gains steam

CHARACTERISTICS OF POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGN

  • Dizzying graphic patterns and an emphasis on loud, off-the-wall colors
  • Use of plastic and laminates, glass, metal and marble; lacquered and painted wood 
  • Unconventional proportions and abundant ornamentation
  • Playful nods to Art Deco and Pop art

POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW

VINTAGE POSTMODERN FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS

Critics derided postmodern design as a grandstanding bid for attention and nothing of consequence. Decades later, the fact that postmodernism still has the power to provoke thoughts, along with other reactions, proves they were not entirely correct.

Postmodern design began as an architectural critique. Starting in the 1960s, a small cadre of mainly American architects began to argue that modernism, once high-minded and even noble in its goals, had become stale, stagnant and blandly corporate. Later, in Milan, a cohort of creators led by Ettore Sottsass and Alessandro Mendinia onetime mentor to Sottsass and a key figure in the Italian Radical movement — brought the discussion to bear on design.

Sottsass, an industrial designer, philosopher and provocateur, gathered a core group of young designers into a collective in 1980 they called Memphis. Members of the Memphis Group,  which would come to include Martine Bedin, Michael Graves, Marco Zanini, Shiro Kuramata, Michele de Lucchi and Matteo Thun, saw design as a means of communication, and they wanted it to shout. That it did: The first Memphis collection appeared in 1981 in Milan and broke all the modernist taboos, embracing irony, kitsch, wild ornamentation and bad taste.

Memphis works remain icons of postmodernism: the Sottsass Casablanca bookcase, with its leopard-print plastic veneer; de Lucchi’s First chair, which has been described as having the look of an electronics component; Martine Bedin’s Super lamp: a pull-toy puppy on a power-cord leash. Even though it preceded the Memphis Group’s formal launch, Sottsass’s iconic Ultrafragola mirror — in its conspicuously curved plastic shell with radical pops of pink neon — proves striking in any space and embodies many of the collective’s postmodern ideals. 

After the initial Memphis show caused an uproar, the postmodern movement within furniture and interior design quickly took off in America. (Memphis fell out of fashion when the Reagan era gave way to cool 1990’s minimalism.) The architect Robert Venturi had by then already begun a series of plywood chairs for Knoll Inc., with beefy, exaggerated silhouettes of traditional styles such as Queen Anne and Chippendale. In 1982, the new firm Swid Powell enlisted a group of top American architects, including Frank Gehry, Richard Meier, Stanley Tigerman and Venturi to create postmodern tableware in silver, ceramic and glass.

On 1stDibs, the vintage postmodern furniture collection includes chairs, coffee tables, sofas, decorative objects, table lamps and more.

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Style: Post-Modern
Copacabana Side Table by Domkapa
Located in Geneve, CH
Copacabana side table by Domkapa Materials: black texturized stainless steel, bamboo wood. Dimensions: W 50 x D 50 x H 50 cm. Also available in different materials. Sometimes...
Category

2010s Portuguese Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Stainless Steel

Small Inside Side Table by Domkapa
Located in Geneve, CH
Small inside side table by Domkapa Dimensions: W 70 x D 70 x H 34.5 cm. Materials: Black texturized steel, moka lacquered matte. Also available in different materials. Inside t...
Category

2010s Portuguese Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Steel

Polar Bear Side Table by Timbart
Located in Geneve, CH
Polar bear side table by Timbart Dimensions: D 35 x H 75 cm Material: Solid american walnut wood, oxidative oil. Timbart is a woodworking atelier ...
Category

2010s Hungarian Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Walnut

Satin Glass "Isom Tall" Coffee Table, Sebastian Scherer
Located in Geneve, CH
Satin glass "Isom Tall" coffee table, Sebastian Scherer Dimensions: 50 H x 43 W x 50 D cm Materials: Solid colored glass Different colors and sizes are av...
Category

2010s German Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Glass

Set of 2 Oasi V1 and V2 Low Tables by Edizione Limitata
Located in Geneve, CH
Set of 2 Oasi V1 and V2 Low Tables by Edizione Limitata Limited Edition of 15 + 3 pieces (each). Signed and numbered. Dimensions: V1: D 38 x W 45 x H 36 cm. V2: D 50 x W 80 x H 28 ...
Category

2010s Italian Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Bronze

Chakra Table by Roberta Rampazzo
Located in Geneve, CH
Chakra table by Roberta Rampazzo Current Production Dimensions: W 50 x D 50 x H 55 cm Materials: Piguês white marble Also available: Nero Marquina, Piguês white Designed with simple but strong lines, the table Chakra represents our constant search for material and spiritual balance. The graphic expression of high and low points reflects this union and brings stability to the table. Its continuous lines symbolize the flow of this energy. The choice of the materials also shows the harmony between the lightness of the base and the marble. A very easy-going table...
Category

2010s English Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Marble

White Pearl Premium Neave Side Table by Nish Studio
Located in Geneve, CH
White Pearl Premium Neave Side Table by Nish Studio Dimensions: W 49.2 x D 41.7 x H 51.7 cm Materials: White Pearl Premium. Prices based on Polished finish with no detailing. Other f...
Category

2010s South African Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Other

YVES Side Table by Ira Boyko
Located in Geneve, CH
YVES side table by Ira Boyko Dimentions: D 36.9 x W 35 x H 55.2 cm Materials: Glass, Stone Male origin is the basis for this work. trapezoid is an anbsolutely male shape for me. by penetrating vertically layers of glass that have different textures, they enter them partially, embellish it, without a doubt, but without breaking its wholeness... Irina Boyko is a Russian interior designer and decorator. Having absorbed the studio education of the Moscow Art Theater...
Category

2010s Russian Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Stone

Boy Side Table by Ira Boyko
Located in Geneve, CH
BOY side table by Ira Boyko Dimentions: D 33 x W 33 x H 33 cm Materials: glass, stone Thassos It has an image of a very delicate and beautiful self-expression. it is also based on k. malevich art. style, created by coco chanel as a collective image is immediately evoked at the sight of this work of art. difficult path of searching for new shapes, accomplished by a fragile woman. that, which reflects her fulfillment, the way she feels this world. this table is named boy, just like chanel’s lover. Irina Boyko is a Russian interior designer and decorator. Having absorbed the studio education of the Moscow Art Theater...
Category

2010s Russian Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Stone

Ahadi Side Table by Albert Potgieter Designs
Located in Geneve, CH
Ahadi side table by Albert Potgieter Designs Dimensions: Ø 40 x H 45 cm. Materials: different types of wood. The Ahadi Side table is a functional sculptural design. Made to be b...
Category

2010s Dutch Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Wood

Epang 07 Side Table by Sing Chan
Located in Geneve, CH
Epang 07 side table by Sing Chan Dimensions: W 25 x D 25 x H 52.5 cm Materials: Manual sculpture, teak, black paint, waxing Sing Chan ( Chinese: 陈星宇/Xingyu Chen) , the founder of SI...
Category

2010s Chinese Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Teak, Paint

Colouring Table by OS and OOS
Located in Geneve, CH
Colouring table by OS and OOS Dimensions: ø 55 x 40 cm Materials: Rosso levante and salomé / carrara and concrete / red mdf and rosso verona The table might be slightly different ...
Category

2010s Dutch Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Marble

Oculta Side Table
By Tri Design
Located in Londrina, Paraná
Oculta means hidden in Portuguese. This side table plays with the idea of having a table underneath another table. (This product consists of only 1 table).
Category

2010s Brazilian Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Wood

The Triangle Side Table by Rita Kettaneh
Located in Geneve, CH
The triangle side table by Rita Kettaneh Dimensions: The base: brushed stainless steel optionally plated with copper or brass The top: acrylic Materials: H 49.5 x W 41 x D 9.5 ...
Category

2010s Lebanese Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Steel

Uña Side Table by Nomade Atelier
Located in Geneve, CH
Uña side table by Nomade Atelier Dimensions: D72 x W60 x H65 cm Material: stone, Onyx Weight: 20 kg The UÑA table is fable, mythology and design blended together. The striking contrast between the stone’s solid weight and the apparent frailty of its legs make for a most intriguing game of tension and levity. The name derived from the Greek word onyx, which means that: nail. NOMADE ATELIER is an exclusive art, design and production studio, headed by Mexican visual artist Diana...
Category

2010s Mexican Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Stone, Onyx

Grey Melange La Terra Small Occasional Table by Agnes Morguet
Located in Geneve, CH
La Terra small occasional table by Agnes Morguet Materials: Metal, Grey Melange Travertine Dimensions: D 31.2 x W 40.5 x H 45.7 cm The foun...
Category

2010s Danish Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Travertine, Metal

Grey Melange La Terra Medium Occasional Table by Agnes Morguet
Located in Geneve, CH
Grey Melange La Terra medium occasional table by Agnes Morguet Materials: metal, grey melange travertine Dimensions: D 40.5 x W 57.2 x H 41 cm The founders, Mia and Torben Koed,...
Category

2010s Danish Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Travertine, Metal

Duo Side Table by Chifen Cheng
Located in Geneve, CH
Duo side table by Chifen Cheng Materials: Metal, Glass Dimensions: D 51 x W 60 x H 51 cm The founders, Mia and Torben Koed, decided to put their 30 years of experience into a ne...
Category

2010s Danish Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Metal

Geo Small Side Table by Daniel Schneiger
Located in Geneve, CH
Geo Small Side Table by Daniel Schneiger. Dim qwwwensions: D 51 x W 46 x H 41 cm. Materials: Wood and resin. Custom finishes available. Custom sizes available. Dan Schneiger A...
Category

2010s American Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Resin, Wood

Values Multiculture Side Table by Geke Lensink
Located in Geneve, CH
Values multiculture side table by Geke Lensink Dimensions: D 45 x H 50 cm Materials: nutwood and gold leaf After graduating from ArtEZ University of the Arts, Geke Lensink star...
Category

2010s Dutch Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Gold Leaf

Table #14 by John Eric Byers
Located in Geneve, CH
Table #14 by John Eric Byers Dimensions: D40 x H50 cm Materials: carved + blackened + maple All works are individually handmade to order. John Eric Byers creates geometrically insp...
Category

2010s American Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Other

Fire Oak Side Table III by Daniel Elkayam
Located in Geneve, CH
Fire oak side table II by Daniel Elkayam One of a Kind Dimensions: D 40 x W 40 x H 35 cm Materials: Oak Wood Daniel Elkayam — Designer Jerusalem-born Art-designer and Photogr...
Category

2010s Israeli Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Oak

Gol. 005 Marble Side Table by Chapter Studio
Located in Geneve, CH
Gol. 005 marble side table by Chapter Studio Dimensions: H 60 x D 38 Material: marble (dark emperador) Effortless composition and eccentric design bring forth the Golestan Seri...
Category

2010s French Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Marble

Gol. 005 Marble Side Table by Chapter Studio
Located in Geneve, CH
Gol. 005 marble side table by Chapter 101 Dimensions: H 60 x D 38 Material: marble (noce travertine) Effortless composition and eccentric design brin...
Category

2010s French Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Marble

Set of 2 Redemption Side Tables by Albert Potgieter Designs
Located in Geneve, CH
Set of 2 Redemption side tables by Albert Potgieter Designs Dimensions: D40 x H45 cm each Materials: Oak wood Product is customizable. “Look and Feel designs”, this is the Tag...
Category

2010s Dutch Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Oak

TC Coffee Table 1 by Studio ThusThat
Located in Geneve, CH
TC coffee table 1 by Studio ThusThat Unique piece. Dimensions: 30cm x 105cm x 54cm Materials: Hand-formed slag geopolymer, hammered copper, brass fi...
Category

2010s English Post-Modern Side Tables

Materials

Brass, Copper

Post-modern side tables for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a broad range of unique Post-Modern side tables for sale on 1stDibs. Many of these items were first offered in the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artisans have continued to produce works inspired by this style. If you’re looking to add vintage side tables created in this style to your space, the works available on 1stDibs include tables, seating, case pieces and storage cabinets and other home furnishings, frequently crafted with metal, stone and other materials. If you’re shopping for used Post-Modern side tables made in a specific country, there are Europe, North America, and Italy pieces for sale on 1stDibs. While there are many designers and brands associated with original side tables, popular names associated with this style include Edizione Limitata, Misaya, ATRA, and Maika Palazuelos. It’s true that these talented designers have at times inspired knockoffs, but our experienced specialists have partnered with only top vetted sellers to offer authentic pieces that come with a buyer protection guarantee. Prices for side tables differ depending upon multiple factors, including designer, materials, construction methods, condition and provenance. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $288 and tops out at $67,000 while the average work can sell for $2,466.

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