In Pictures
As Modern Shows' dedicated marketplace arrives in London this weekend, we chart the defining factors of the 1940s and 50s furniture design trend that was governed by functionality and simplicity
TextMadeleine Morley
Writer and art historian Cara Greenberg coined the phrase ‘Mid-Century Modern’ in 1984 – it was the title of her seminal book about what has since become a global and iconic design movement. The label is to-the-point and no-nonsense, much like the straightforward interior style, which championed notions of functionality, ease and modern simplicity. When spoken aloud, the words mid-century modern also have a melodic quality to them; the mirrored, doubling ‘Ms’ roll smoothly off the tongue, evoking the clean sculptural lines of the perfectly balanced aesthetic that it describes. With its bubble shapes, neat proportions and alluring sugar-coated colours, the mid-century has been aptly described as ‘furniture candy’.
Now the darling of Etsy, upscale vintage stores and the mid-century modern furniture fair at the Oval (which is taking place in London this Sunday, May 15), the historic movement continues to permeate our sense of what’s contemporary. Before you head down to the Oval at Kennington’s Cricket Ground this weekend to fill your homes, here’s a guide to mid-century furniture, a movement that continues to define and grace our kitchens and living rooms.
The Origin
Peaking as its name suggests as a style from the 1940s-1960s, the mid-century movement was the organic offspring of modernism. It was rooted in notions of functionality, elegance and simplicity as championed by the likes of the Bauhaus and Le Corbusier, whose dictum – “a house is a machine for living” – filtered naturally, and often controversially, into the ideology of mid-century designers.
George Nelson’s 1946 Platform Bench is often cited as one of the first memorable designs of the genre. It was created to be mass-produced in order to be affordable to the average homeowner, an ideal Nelson inherited from the Bauhaus sensibility – good design for all. After Nelson’s casual, carefree yet elegant bench, the movement continued to prize the romantic idea that good design could change lives for everyone, not just the rich. Design could change the world for the better.
Design couple extraordinaire Ray and Charles Eames’s breezy, beautiful Californian chairs have become synonymous with the movement, and for them, as they stated, the ideology was simple yet powerful: “Getting the most of the best to the greatest number of people for the least amount of money.”
The Materials
For mid-century designers, materials were used for their own distinct, even deliberately artificial qualities and never to imitate the groove of wood or marble. They embraced relatively new materials like metal, glass, vinyl, and plywood, offsetting these with wood to create novel, exciting juxtapositions. Often a piece of furniture would combine only two materials or two colours – creating tension and harmony without fuss or superfluous ornament.
Artist and architect Isamu Noguchi’s walnut hardwood and glass Noguchi table exemplifies this: it was described as a ‘sculpture for use’, and its duality of two elements created something flowing, self-supporting, and enticingly functional.
The Eameses championed new technologies too, creating plastic resin or wire mesh chairs that were produced by manufacturer Herman Miller. Their Molded Plastic and Fiberglass Armchair was low-cost and had a mix-and-match quality: the consumer could choose from three plastic colours (elegant greige, elephant-hide, or parchment) and could select a metal, wood or rocker base. Materials that were associated with the cheap and the industrial were becoming the staple of contemporary interiors.
The Style
George Nelson determined that there were three ‘mid-century’ categories: the bio-morphic, the machine, and the handcrafted:
Bio-morphic mid-century describes the furniture that relished in organic, curved, smooth surfaces, design that was moulded into the shapes of kidneys and boomerangs, and which was an accessible and lively contrast to the more austere machine aesthetic of the Bauhaus. Hungarian-born, US-based Eva Zeisel especially explored the natural world in her designs: her famous salt and pepper shakers exude personality, and her belly-button shaped room-divider combined human body forms with functional divisions of space. Other bio-morphic classics include the dreamy, cloud-like Eames Plastic Chaise Longue and Verner Panton’s flowing Panton Chair.
The machine look originated in the Bauhaus and Streamline Moderne, from where it appropriated its stark, space-age geometric forms that played with form and function. George Nelson’s Associate’s Ball Clock for the Howard Miller clock company at the time looked as if it had fallen out of the 21st century, though now it feels vintage, like something from the futurist 60s cartoon The Jetsons. It was nostalgic for a time yet to come.
Despite its name, the third category of ‘handmade’ mid-century modernism was still designed for industrial production, and it expressed ideals of usefulness and minimalism in the sculptural lines of shaped wood. The ‘handmade’ mostly defined the Danish strand of the movement. Denmark’s Finn Juhl was a pioneer: his 45 Chair is a classic – a combination of graceful leather and finely sculptured wood that looks light, delicate and airy.
The Here and Now
Charismatic furniture from the past that imagined a cool, uncluttered future – seeing the future in fu(rni)ture– has become very now. Today, furniture manufacturers like Herman Miller and Knoll are still producing and reproducing many of the designs from the mid-century period, and the Eames Lounge Chair has never gone out of production since it was first released. Ironically for a movement that prided itself on its accessibility, many of the pieces now come with steep price tags: Eames Molded Plywood Folding Screen is worth over $10,000, for example, and George Nelson’s playful Marshmallow sofa recently sold for a modern mind-boggling $66,000.
While shows like Mad Men idealise the movement through immaculate set design (its team worked with Herman Miller, which advised on period-appropriate furnishings), contemporary exhibitions like Washington’s recent female-focused Pathmakers at the Museum of Women in the Arts continue to look at the movement from less familiar perspectives, finding gorgeous new forms to rediscover.
Modern Shows: MidcenturySouth takes place May 15, 2016 at the Oval, London.
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Mid-Century Modern Furniture Design
As an enthusiast and expert in the field of design and art history, I have a deep understanding of the mid-century modern furniture design trend. This movement, which peaked in the 1940s-1960s, was rooted in the principles of functionality, elegance, and simplicity. It was heavily influenced by modernism, particularly the ideas championed by the Bauhaus and Le Corbusier. The movement emphasized the accessibility of good design for all, not just the wealthy, and sought to change the world for the better through design. The materials used were deliberately chosen for their distinct qualities, and new technologies were embraced to create novel and exciting juxtapositions. The style of mid-century modern furniture can be categorized into three main types: bio-morphic, machine, and handcrafted, each with its own unique characteristics. This movement continues to influence contemporary design, with manufacturers still producing and reproducing many of the iconic designs from that period.
The Origin
The mid-century modern furniture design movement was an organic offspring of modernism, rooted in notions of functionality, elegance, and simplicity as championed by the likes of the Bauhaus and Le Corbusier. This movement was a response to the idea that good design could change lives for everyone, not just the rich. The movement was characterized by the belief that design could change the world for the better, and it sought to make good design accessible to the average homeowner. George Nelson's 1946 Platform Bench is often cited as one of the first memorable designs of the genre, created to be mass-produced in order to be affordable to the average homeowner, in line with the Bauhaus sensibility of good design for all.
The Materials
Mid-century designers deliberately embraced relatively new materials like metal, glass, vinyl, and plywood, offsetting these with wood to create novel, exciting juxtapositions. The movement also championed new technologies, such as the use of plastic resin or wire mesh chairs produced by manufacturers like Herman Miller. The Eameses, for example, created the Molded Plastic and Fiberglass Armchair, which was low-cost and had a mix-and-match quality, allowing consumers to choose from various options.
The Style
The mid-century modern furniture design style can be categorized into three main types: bio-morphic, machine, and handcrafted. Bio-morphic designs relished in organic, curved, smooth surfaces, while the machine look originated in the Bauhaus and Streamline Moderne, featuring stark, space-age geometric forms. The third category of ‘handmade’ mid-century modernism was still designed for industrial production, expressing ideals of usefulness and minimalism in the sculptural lines of shaped wood, particularly defining the Danish strand of the movement.
The Here and Now
Today, furniture manufacturers like Herman Miller and Knoll are still producing and reproducing many of the designs from the mid-century period. The Eames Lounge Chair, for example, has never gone out of production since it was first released. However, many of the iconic pieces now come with steep price tags, reflecting the continued influence and desirability of mid-century modern furniture in contemporary design.
In conclusion, the mid-century modern furniture design trend was a defining movement that continues to influence contemporary design, with its emphasis on functionality, elegance, and simplicity, as well as its deliberate use of materials and embrace of new technologies.
If you have any further questions or would like to delve deeper into this topic, feel free to ask!