The Complete Guide to Mid-Century Modern Furniture. Everything you need to know.

by Pamela Siegel

 

Mid-century modern furniture offers stylish decorating options whether you’re selecting a signature piece or shopping to outfit an entire room. These now-vintage home furnishings were made during an interior design and decorating period with roots in the 1940s that lasted through the ‘50s, ‘60s, and into the early 1970s. They’ve been used as accents in diverse decorating schemes for decades making them perennially popular with collectors of Modernist works as well as home decorators.

 

Mid-Century Modern Overview

 

German architects paved the way for the birth of the mid-century modern period in America with the Bauhaus school’s earlier influence. The goal of the Bauhaus was to bring visually pleasing, artistic design to the masses. This ideal spread to furniture with notables from Germany like Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe who both conceived now-famous modern chair styles in the 1920s. Both van der Rohe’s “Barcelona" and Breuer’s “Wassily" are still very popular with those embracing mid-century modern design.

 

 

Wassily chair designed by Marcel Breuer

 

By the late 1940s, the concept had spread to the United States and mass-produced furniture and decorative accessories with a fresh look and atomic style were sought by consumers. Bold colors combined with subdued hues are displayed in these mid-century modern furnishings. Clean lines melded with curvaceous contours are also common features. Natural materials like wood, various types of stone, and glass were combined with manufactured plastics and metal components in everything from office desks to coffee tables. Many designers emerged as leaders in the field creating pieces that worked well both indoors and on fashionable patios.

 

Mid-Century Modern Design

 

Many designers are credited for their pioneering influences to the mid-century modern movement. Original pieces designed by any of these top-contributors to the field are desirable collectibles.

 

The most well-known mid-century innovators are Charles and Ray Eames. It’s no surprise the frequently used moniker “Eames-era” stems from this husband-and-wife design duo’s work. This catch-all term is largely used to describe objects with modern influences that don’t have a label or mark to firmly attach them to a specific designer or manufacturer.

 

Using molded plywood was one of their early innovations. Their widely copied lounge chair combining molded plywood with leather is one of the Eames most recognizable styles. They also designed office desks, a variety of tables, innovative molded plastic side chairs, and many other furniture pieces over several decades beginning in the 1940s.

 

Eames lounge chair and ottoman 

 

Other designers credited for noteworthy work in this arena include:

 

Harry Bertoia. Bertoia was an American sculptor who designed several well-known furniture pieces including the “Diamond Chair.” He also conceived wire chair designs reflective of his artistic background that could be used outdoors on a patio as well as inside the home.

 

Arne Jacobsen. Jacobsen was a Danish designer who collaborated with the Eames. His work was globally renowned during the ‘50s and ‘60s including his “Ant” and “Swan” chair styles. He is also known for the complete design of the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark, which incorporated his famed “Egg Chair” and matching footstool into its modern décor.

 

George Nelson. Nelson is known for both his contribution to mid-century design while working for Herman Miller furniture and for his own business, George Nelson Associates. He designed many notable decorative accessories and furniture. The “Coconut Chair” and “Flying Duck” chairs are examples of some of his pieces with whimsical-yet-appropriate names.

 

Eero Saarinen. Saarinen immigrated to America from Finland when he was a teen. He is best-known for his work as an architect including the famed Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri and the TWA Flight Center in New York City. He also collaborated with his friend Charles Eames in 1940 to create the “Tulip” chair, which took first place in the “Organic Design in Home Furnishings” contest sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art. Popular coordinating pedestal table styles were also produced to go with the Tulip chair.

 

Variation of Tulip table designed by Eero Saarinen

 

While mid-century modern design carried over into the early 1970s, it morphed to include elements of Brutalism. This was evident with designers like Paul Evans melding the concepts into glass-topped dining tables with roughly sculpted metal bases and case pieces with intricately textured front panels. His work is generally harder to find than that of earlier mid-century pacesetters whose designs were produced over a longer period.

 

Work by all these designers is highly valued for their both their aesthetic and usability. Many of their pieces mix well from collection to collection. For instance, a Tulip pedestal dining table can easily be used with Eames molded plastic side chairs. However, original versions can be hard to find.

 

If you want to recreate a Modernist room or add a mid-century accent piece to your eclectic décor and don’t care about vintage labels, lookalikes and copies offer more affordable alternatives at better prices.

 

 

Mid-century furniture pieces by Thomasville (yellow dresser dating to 1970), oval-back teal chair by Jens Risom, Martinsville highboy dresser, and Lane coffee table

 

Well-known Mid-Century Modern Furniture Manufacturers

 

Many mainstream furniture companies produced mid-century styles including businesses like Thomasville, Martinsville, and Lane. Two other desirable names that come up frequently are Herman Miller and Knoll. Both are still in business, and both still sell furniture brought to life by noteworthy designers.

 

Herman Miller’s foray into the furniture industry began in 1923 when he assisted his son-in-law in buying a Michigan-based company that was renamed in his honor. The business employed George Nelson as its design director from 1945 through 1954. The Eames also designed for the firm during the mid-century period. Many designs by both Nelson and Eames, including Eames lounge chairs, are currently sold by Herman Miller although many vintage purists prefer hunting down older pieces.

 

Hans and Florence Knoll established Knoll, Inc. in New York City in 1938. The company’s manufacturing was moved to Pennsylvania in 1950. Long devoted to modern design, this company, like Herman Miller, has created a variety of furnishings for both home and office use. The “Barcelona” chair by van der Rohe is one of the firm’s most recognizable pieces. During the 1950s, Knoll also produced the “Bertoia Collection for Knoll” which included five metal designs influenced by Bertoia’s career as a sculptor. The company also bought Breuer’s design catalog in 1968 and began producing his “Wassily” chair which was first manufactured when he was still at the Bauhaus school.

 

Whether old or new, furniture made by either of these brands is valued in the secondary marketplace. Pieces with older labels still attached are the most desirable but the Herman Miller and Knoll names are widely respected by decorators and collectors.

 

Are you looking to buy mid-century modern pieces for your home or office? Visit AuctionNinja listings for mid-century modern furniture and an array of other modern décor options.

 

 

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