Venini Veronese
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Metal
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Murano Glass
Vintage 1970s Italian Brutalist Wall Mirrors
Wrought Iron
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Metal, Chrome
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Metal
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vases
Blown Glass, Murano Glass
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Metal
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal
Vintage 1970s Italian Space Age Chandeliers and Pendants
Metal
Vintage 1970s Italian Space Age Chandeliers and Pendants
Metal
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Metal
1990s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Murano Glass
20th Century Italian Glass
Blown Glass
Vintage 1930s Italian Art Deco Chandeliers and Pendants
Blown Glass
20th Century Modern Vases
Murano Glass
2010s Italian Vases
Murano Glass
Early 2000s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vases
Murano Glass
Vintage 1970s Italian Hollywood Regency Chandeliers and Pendants
Crystal
Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Vases
Gold Leaf
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Vases
Glass, Art Glass, Blown Glass
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Mirrors
Glass, Wood, Art Glass
Vintage 1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Murano Glass
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
Vintage 1970s Italian Space Age Floor Lamps
Metal, Chrome
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Stainless Steel
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Stainless Steel
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass, Gold Leaf
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass, Gold Leaf
Vintage 1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass, Gold Leaf
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Brass
Vintage 1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Murano Glass
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass, Gold Leaf
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Brass
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Metal
1990s Italian Mid-Century Modern Nesting Tables and Stacking Tables
Metal
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Brass
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
- 1
Venini Veronese For Sale on 1stDibs
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A Close Look at Mid-century Modern Furniture
Organically shaped, clean-lined and elegantly simple are three terms that well describe vintage mid-century modern furniture. The style, which emerged primarily in the years following World War II, is characterized by pieces that were conceived and made in an energetic, optimistic spirit by creators who believed that good design was an essential part of good living.
ORIGINS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
- Emerged during the mid-20th century
- Informed by European modernism, Bauhaus, International style, Scandinavian modernism and Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture
- A heyday of innovation in postwar America
- Experimentation with new ideas, new materials and new forms flourished in Scandinavia, Italy, the former Czechoslovakia and elsewhere in Europe
CHARACTERISTICS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
- Simplicity, organic forms, clean lines
- A blend of neutral and bold Pop art colors
- Use of natural and man-made materials — alluring woods such as teak, rosewood and oak; steel, fiberglass and molded plywood
- Light-filled spaces with colorful upholstery
- Glass walls and an emphasis on the outdoors
- Promotion of functionality
MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW
- Charles and Ray Eames
- Eero Saarinen
- Milo Baughman
- Florence Knoll
- Harry Bertoia
- Isamu Noguchi
- George Nelson
- Danish modernists Hans Wegner and Arne Jacobsen, whose emphasis on natural materials and craftsmanship influenced American designers and vice versa
ICONIC MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNS
- Eames lounge chair
- Nelson daybed
- Florence Knoll sofa
- Egg chair
- Womb chair
- Noguchi coffee table
- Barcelona chair
VINTAGE MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS
The mid-century modern era saw leagues of postwar American architects and designers animated by new ideas and new technology. The lean, functionalist International-style architecture of Le Corbusier and Bauhaus eminences Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius had been promoted in the United States during the 1930s by Philip Johnson and others. New building techniques, such as “post-and-beam” construction, allowed the International-style schemes to be realized on a small scale in open-plan houses with long walls of glass.
Materials developed for wartime use became available for domestic goods and were incorporated into mid-century modern furniture designs. Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen, who had experimented extensively with molded plywood, eagerly embraced fiberglass for pieces such as the La Chaise and the Womb chair, respectively.
Architect, writer and designer George Nelson created with his team shades for the Bubble lamp using a new translucent polymer skin and, as design director at Herman Miller, recruited the Eameses, Alexander Girard and others for projects at the legendary Michigan furniture manufacturer.
Harry Bertoia and Isamu Noguchi devised chairs and tables built of wire mesh and wire struts. Materials were repurposed too: The Danish-born designer Jens Risom created a line of chairs using surplus parachute straps for webbed seats and backrests.
The Risom lounge chair was among the first pieces of furniture commissioned and produced by celebrated manufacturer Knoll, a chief influencer in the rise of modern design in the United States, thanks to the work of Florence Knoll, the pioneering architect and designer who made the firm a leader in its field. The seating that Knoll created for office spaces — as well as pieces designed by Florence initially for commercial clients — soon became desirable for the home.
As the demand for casual, uncluttered furnishings grew, more mid-century furniture designers caught the spirit.
Classically oriented creators such as Edward Wormley, house designer for Dunbar Inc., offered such pieces as the sinuous Listen to Me chaise; the British expatriate T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings switched gears, creating items such as the tiered, biomorphic Mesa table. There were Young Turks such as Paul McCobb, who designed holistic groups of sleek, blond wood furniture, and Milo Baughman, who espoused a West Coast aesthetic in minimalist teak dining tables and lushly upholstered chairs and sofas with angular steel frames.
Generations turn over, and mid-century modern remains arguably the most popular style going. As the collection of vintage mid-century modern chairs, dressers, coffee tables and other furniture for the living room, dining room, bedroom and elsewhere on 1stDibs demonstrates, this period saw one of the most delightful and dramatic flowerings of creativity in design history.
Read More
This Paavo Tynell Chandelier Is a Radiant Bouquet
The alluring pendant light exemplifies the designer’s winsome mid-career work.
Why Is Italy Such a Hotbed of Cool Design?
Patrizio Chiarparini of Brooklyn’s Duplex gallery sheds light on the lasting legacy of Italy’s postwar furniture boom.
See How New York City Designers Experiment on Their Own Homes
There are many lessons to be learned from the lofts, apartments and townhouses of architects and decorators in Manhattan and beyond.
Jeff Andrews Captures Old Hollywood Glamour in His Cinematic Spaces
Having created extravagant homes for reality TV’s biggest stars, the designer is stepping into the spotlight with his first book.
New Orleans’ Lee Ledbetter Makes Design Magic by Mixing Past and Present
The Louisiana-born and -bred architect talks to 1stdibs about the art of making timeless places that matter.
Desert Modern Designer Arthur Elrod Finally Gets His Day in the Sun
The Palm Springs interior decorator developed a mid-century style that defined the vacation homes of celebrities and other notables, including Bob Hope and Lucille Ball.
From the Hamptons to Palm Springs, FormArch’s Homes Embody Both Comfort and Cool
The houses from this New York studio cloak modernist tendencies within what are often more traditional trappings.
8 Mid-Century Lighting Makers
In the market for a fantastic fixture from the 1940s, ’50s or ’60s? Here are some names to know.