Mid-CenturyIn this section you will find mid-century modern furniture that we think are within the most representative of the mid-century modern style. Some of these mid modern furniture made the history of modern design, and are still in production, others are less known but equally iconic.
We believe that good furniture design should follow function, and not by coincidence this was the pillar for some of the most representative designers of the 20th century as Charles and Ray Eames or Eero Saarinen.
Overall, we hope to show why we believe everyone should invest in well designed mid-century furniture, as they would for a piece of art.
The use of contrasting materials as rope, painted and chrome-plated steel, sheepskin and a linen-covered cushion to design the Halyard Chair have not precedents in the mid century modern design.
Hans Wegner goal while designing this chair was not to prove the textural interplay of the materials used but his ability to create practical and innovative furniture in any other material than wood.
We all love mid-century design but some of you probably think that mid-century furniture is overpriced.
If you can’t really afford to buy expensive design pieces but like to have good-looking furniture, which is going to stay in vogue for some time, we’re sure that you’ve been to IKEA at least once. The good thing about IKEA is that it deliberately takes its inspiration from the best mid-century modern – usually Scandinavian – design.
The Ej Corona Chair has been designed by the Danish architect Poul Volther in 1961 and symbolizes the change that the Scandinavian mid century modern furniture industry was going to face in the 60s, even though it represented important ideological and manufacturing principles of the previous decade.
Initially made as a one-off prototype design, the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman quickly became fashionable and well-liked by a wider public after the design was improved and eventually put into production. It was seen as a 20th-century rebirth of the old English Club Chair.
The original Swan chair was designed by Arne Jacobsen as part of a project for the Radisson’s Royal Hotel in Copenhagen that also included the Egg chair. Arne Jacobsen’s design consisted of a curved hard plastic seat on a polished aluminium stand.
The aluminium swiveling base was not part of the original design for the Swan chair. It previously had a set of cross-shaped legs made from laminated beech wood.
Because of its unique design, the Atomic Clock became one of the most recognizable pieces of the mid-century design. Its shape reminds of an atom’s molecular structure, resembling the modern age and technology innovations. The missing numbers may also indicate the representation of time as a metaphysical state in which it passes without reference.
Reading one of my magazine today I spotted an amazing lamp that looked like had an interesting story. I decided to make some research about it and it turned out to be -unexpectedly- a piece of mid century modern Spanish design!
The lamp is called TMM and is a floor lamp designed by Miguel Mila’ in 1962.
In 1941, the New York Museum of Modern Art opened a design competition named: ‘Organic Design in Home Furnishings’. The competition’s main goal was to find new ideas which were aimed at improving the mid-century interiors. Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen together achieved two 1st positions within the furniture category.
Even though I am used to show mid century modern houses decorated with natural textures and materials, the typical 50s and 60s houses often had rich and bold colours that helped to highlight, unify and divide the inner spaces.
The monotonous palette of the war period interiors were replaced by dazzling tints during the 50s.
Even though not part of the mid-century modern period, the Dutch designer and architect Gerrit Rietveld was within the ones that most influenced the aesthetic of the postwar modernism -or mid century modern- period; that is why I decided to dedicate a post to one of his iconic works.
Last week I published the first part of The 10 Best Mid Century Modern Chairs and today I will complete the list with other five amazing and iconic mid century modern chairs. Be sure to read the post until the end…there’s a surprise.
The Eero Saarinen Womb Chair.
We all admire them, desire them, dream about them but what do we really know about the most iconic mid century modern chairs ever?
Today I will start to answer to this question with the first of two posts about 10 of the best chairs ever designed during the mid century period.
After writing about the Antony Chair, today I investigated a bit about another icon of mid-century modern: the Jean Prouve Compass Desk.
Jean Prouve considered himself a constructeur rather than an architect, designer or artist due to his training as blacksmith and the involvement in the manufacturing process of the products he designed.
Jean Prouve’ was one of the most important French -and international- designers and architects of the twentieth century.
He started his career as metal worker in Nancy and craftsmanship always had a preeminent role in all his projects.
In 1931 he opened his workshop -the Ateliers Jean Prouve’-
Our last short visit to London for the Design Festival was extremely interesting and rich with nice designs and furniture. One of our discoveries was the Rocket Gallery.
Although the current exhibition is about post-war Dutch design, we spotted few contemporary pieces with a clear Mid-century inspiration: we found out to be reissues of Jens Risom’s 50s and 60s designs.
The Isamu Noguchi Akari lamp -inspired by the traditional Japanese paper lanterns- is one of the design icons of the last century.
To be completely honest with you, before starting Mid Century Home I never heard of Isamu Noguchi and his works…but from the first moment I saw his objects and sculptures, I started to love them 🙂
The Achille Castiglioni Arco floor lamp has been one of my favorite lamps ever and -after the Achille Castiglioni Biography and the post about the Toio lamp- today I decided to finally write about it.
The Achille Castiglioni Arco floor lamp has been inspired by a common object: a street lamp.
The Isamu Noguchi coffee table is the today’s iconic mid century object. I’m lucky to see it every day from real -it’s in the hall of my office- and I can say to know it quite well 🙂
Who Isamu Noguchi was? A Short Biography.
Since its launch in 1948, the Womb Chair designed by Eero Saarinen has been always in production and definitely is one of the most known pieces of mid century furniture ever.
The shape of the Womb chair is the result of Saarinen’s experiments with organic shell-type seats for furniture design. Saarinen started his experiment with Charles Eames during the ‘Organic Design in Home Furnishings’ competition in 1941 during which they presented the ‘Conversation, Relaxation and Lounging’ trio.
Within the many famous Italian mid-century modern designs, the Achille Castiglioni Toio Lamp has undoubtedly a primary role.
Even though Achille was the most known of the Castiglioni brothers, he worked closely with his older brother Pier Giacomo to many projects until his premature death in 1968; both concentrating on the same task, rather than dividing up the work.
Since a while I had the idea to build a page that was a good starting point for the new readers and a specific archive for posts about the iconic objects that made the mid-century design’s history.
Posts like the Aalto’s Savoy vase or the Jacobsen’s Egg chair -to mention a couple of them- were really appreciated by you guys so,..
After the Wire Chair and the Eames Screen, today I want to put the spot on another revolutionary product designed by Charles and Ray Eames: The Eames Storage Unit. Probably one of the most desired mid-century modern furniture by folks like us. 😉
The ESU was born to be a flexible and innovative product, it was the result of different assembled parts available in many combinations and materials.
I’m a curious person, I like to ‘investigate’ and learn as much as possible about what I like: especially about Mid-Century design.
Few days ago I was thinking which object should have I choose for the today post. I wanted to write about something that is usually not mentioned within the most famous works of Charles and Ray Eames but that had an interesting story anyway.
Choosing the right flowers is important, but what about the vase? During the Mid-Century millions of different vases were designed, but probably the most iconic one -since it was born- is the Aalto’s Savoy vase designed in 1936.
The main characteristic of the Scandinavian design is the organic form of furniture and objects and, as I already wrote in
If I think to Mid-Century, I can not avoid to think to the Arne Jacobsen Egg Chair.
Probably one of the most famous chairs ever designed during the Mid-Century, the Arne Jacobsen Egg Chair takes its name from the similarity with a broken eggshell and because of its ‘wrapping’ shape it’s considered the modern version of the Georgian wing armchair.
