Modern Furniture

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Modern Furniture Staples: The old and new classics

Before the modernist design movement, popular furniture styles valued ornamental appeal over functionality.  The modern movement reintroduced simple efficiency and originality to the home furnishings marketplace, and innovation to home decor.  By introducing advanced manufacturing methods and new materials to home furnishings design, modernist design schools like Bauhaus and Werkbund leveraged modernist philosophies and the creativity of their artists to revolutionize home furniture.  Many of the original modern furniture designs are still popular today, like the Eames Chair, the Saarinen Tulip Chairs, the Knoll Womb Chair and many others.  This Lens presents the classic modern furniture pieces that are still popular today, as well as some recent additions to the list of modern furniture favorites.

Eero Saarinen's Tulip Chair

Eero Saarinen designed the Tulip Chair in 1957 in terms of setting, rather than shape. The Tulip is a single-legged chair made from fiberglass-reinforced resin. With Tulip, Saarinen realized his vision of design: "Every significant piece of furniture from the past has a holistic structure."

Saarinen's Tulip Chair won many awards, including the Museum of Modern Art Award in 1969, the Federal Award for Industrial Design in 1969 and the Design Center Stuttgart Award in 1962.

The chair is available black or white, with arms or without and features an optional cushion available in various colors. The tulip chair is a legendary modern furniture piece that is still one of the most popular items in modern furniture stores 50 years after its original design was conceived.

Mies van der Rohe Barcelona Chair

Perhaps the most famous of all modern chairs, the Barcelona Chair by Mies van der Rohe is a ubiquitous and unmistakable classic of modern design.

German-born American Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created the Barcelona Chair for the German Pavilion in 1929 for the Barcelona Exposition. While some have tried to mimick the sleek silhouette and structure of the Barcelona Chair, Mies van der Rohe gave the exclusive manufacturing rights for his design to Knoll in 1953.

The Barcelona Chair and matching ottoman feature carefully hand-tufted leather with hand-buffed frame and carefully welted Spinneybeck volo cowhide panels. The Barcelona Chair is meticulously hand-crafted from start to finish and is truly a modern masterpiece. The Barcelona Lounge Collection was honored with The Museum of Modern Art Award in 1977.

Mies van der Rohe's revolutionary 1929 design is still relevant today, fitting seamlessly with almost any decor. The Barcelona chair and ottoman set is a modern must-have.

Want to learn more about the modern design movement?

Check out these great books and magazines about modern furniture & design:

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StyleMuse

I am a self-taught student of modern art and style.  I read about and collect everything modern that I can afford with money and/or time.  I... more »

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