Space Age Bookends
Vintage Space Age furniture captured post–World War II optimism with swooping shapes, bowed lines and experimentation with new materials including plastic and fiberglass.
From the launch of the Sputnik 1 satellite in 1957 to the landing of Apollo 11 astronauts on the moon in 1969, the space race between the Soviet Union and the United States propelled advancements in technology that transformed culture. Space Age design encompassed fashion, architecture, cars, furniture and objects for the home, bringing wonder and hope for the future into everyday life.
Coinciding with Pop art, Space Age style featured bold colors and forms. Eero Aarnio’s Ball chair, which debuted in 1966, used molded fiberglass for a capsule-like space while Verner Panton’s 1959 Panton chair was a single piece of molded plastic for a gravity-defying S shape. Red versions of Olivier Mourgue’s 1964 Djinn chair were futuristic enough to appear on the space station in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Today, Joe Colombo is revered as a master of modern Italian design thanks to the provocative modular furniture pieces he created, such as the Tube chair and the Elda armchair, both of which embody the future-forward spirit of the Space Age.
The Space Age spirit extended to home building too. The futuristic Case Study Houses, which were designed by the likes of Pierre Koenig, Charles and Ray Eames, Richard Neutra and Whitney R. Smith, are considered a high point of modernism and the Southern California lifestyle.
Sometimes the nods to space exploration were more literal, like moon and star motifs or the 1965 Eclisse lamp by Vico Magistretti that saw the mid-century Italian designer integrating a movable inner shade to “eclipse” the light source. Alongside the pioneering moon missions, JVC manufactured the Videosphere portable television reminiscent of the Apollo 11 space helmets.
Although the style faded in the 1970s — with the 1975 joining of the Apollo and Soyuz spacecrafts signaling a new era of cooperation and the global oil crisis impacting the availability of plastics — the era’s innovations influenced designers into the 21st century such as Zaha Hadid and Djivan Schapira.
Find a collection of vintage Space Age seating, tables, lighting and other furniture on 1stDibs.
20th Century Scandinavian Space Age Bookends
Pine
Late 20th Century Italian Space Age Bookends
Plastic
1970s French Vintage Space Age Bookends
Lucite
1970s American Vintage Space Age Bookends
Wood
Mid-20th Century Italian Space Age Bookends
Plastic
1980s Italian Vintage Space Age Bookends
Marble
1980s Unknown Vintage Space Age Bookends
Marble, Brass
1960s Spanish Vintage Space Age Bookends
Fruitwood
1980s French Vintage Space Age Bookends
Crystal
1970s Vietnamese Vintage Space Age Bookends
Bronze
20th Century American Space Age Bookends
Metal
1980s Unknown Vintage Space Age Bookends
Wood
Late 20th Century Italian Space Age Bookends
Travertine
Late 20th Century Indian Space Age Bookends
Wood
Mid-20th Century Italian Space Age Bookends
Plastic
20th Century American Space Age Bookends
Ceramic
20th Century American Space Age Bookends
Ceramic
Mid-20th Century Italian Space Age Bookends
Art Glass, Blown Glass, Murano Glass, Sommerso, Glass
20th Century American Space Age Bookends
Lucite
1950s Italian Vintage Space Age Bookends
Gold Leaf
Mid-20th Century Italian Space Age Bookends
Art Glass, Blown Glass, Glass, Murano Glass, Sommerso
20th Century American Space Age Bookends
Mid-20th Century Italian Space Age Bookends
Art Glass, Blown Glass, Glass, Murano Glass, Sommerso
