Chai Ming Studios
2010s American Modern Console Tables
Wood, Lacquer
2010s American Modern Credenzas
Metal
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Stone, Limestone, Granite, Steel, Metal
2010s American Modern Credenzas
Metal, Bronze
2010s American Modern Dining Room Tables
Oak, Walnut, Lacquer
2010s American Modern Console Tables
Wood, Lacquer
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Limestone, Granite, Stainless Steel, Metal, Bronze
2010s American Modern Side Tables
Bronze
2010s American Modern Side Tables
Metal, Bronze
2010s American Modern Credenzas
Wood, Lacquer
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Limestone, Granite, Stone, Metal
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2010s American Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Brass, Aluminum, Nickel, Chrome, Enamel, Bronze
2010s Mexican Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Oak
21st Century and Contemporary Swedish Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Textile
21st Century and Contemporary French Art Deco Night Stands
Brass
2010s Italian Modern Console Tables
Concrete
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Sofas
Velvet, Walnut
2010s American Modern Table Lamps
Steel, Brass, Silver Leaf
21st Century and Contemporary Spanish Minimalist Side Tables
Marble, Travertine
21st Century and Contemporary American Minimalist Credenzas
Oak
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Travertine
2010s French Modern Chairs
Oak
21st Century and Contemporary Brazilian Modern Dining Room Chairs
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Mexican Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
Textile, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and...
Onyx, Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Onyx, Granite, Carrara Marble, Brass, Stainless Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and...
Metal, Brass
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A Close Look at modern Furniture
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.