Floating Bed Axel
2010s Swedish Modern Beds and Bed Frames
Pine
2010s Swedish Modern Beds and Bed Frames
Pine
2010s Swedish Modern Beds and Bed Frames
Oak
2010s Swedish Modern Beds and Bed Frames
Oak
2010s Swedish Modern Beds and Bed Frames
Oak
2010s Swedish Modern Side Tables
Pine
2010s Swedish Modern Side Tables
Pine
People Also Browsed
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
Brass
2010s Swedish Scandinavian Modern Sideboards
Birch
2010s American Minimalist Beds and Bed Frames
Plywood
2010s Dutch Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary American Beds and Bed Frames
Ash
2010s Swedish Scandinavian Modern Sideboards
Birch, Oak
2010s Austrian Jugendstil Chandeliers and Pendants
Silk
21st Century and Contemporary Swedish Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Textile
Mid-20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
Cane, Teak
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
Brass, Copper
Vintage 1970s French Organic Modern Lounge Chairs
Fabric, Foam, Upholstery
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
Brass
2010s Asian Minimalist Beds and Bed Frames
Bamboo
Early 2000s Italian Post-Modern Armchairs
Leather, Upholstery, Latex, Resin
2010s South African Minimalist Pedestals
Hardwood
2010s American Minimalist Beds and Bed Frames
Plywood
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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.