A Look Back At Modern Furniture

By Author: Jane Cooper
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For anyone interested in modern furniture, this article traces its development and styles so keep reading to find out some interesting information. Modern furniture refers specifically to any furniture that came out of the late 19th century and continues to the present. The style spelled a complete departure from everything that had been. Modern furniture bid goodbye to the dark, the heavy, the gilded, the richly patterned, and the carved to bring forth geometric lines and simplicity in metal and wood. It was a clear symbol of emergence from dark to light.

The materials employed in the use of modern furniture making were a complete step away from old. There was steel being used and molded plywood and plastic in totally new designs. There was a clear interest in new and innovative methods and the materials as well with an aim to mass produce, making the design more accessible to the people at large.

The new philosophy that was emerging seemed to put emphasis on newness and originality, technical innovativeness and what was in the here and now and what was to come. The past it seems was the past. Gone was ...
... thinking of old, now the emphasis had shifted to accessibility, functionality, versatility and not of lineage and history

There was a large Japanese influence on Modern Furniture in the form of Edo Period and the artifacts that emerged truly were striking for their simplicity. Emphasis was on the use of solid color planes and no ornament, a sudden great passion for Japanese things.

Some of the best examples of true modern furniture by the real proponents of the style were:

Eileen Gray side table, which was designed specifically for a guest room in Eileen’s home in France, and her very own non-conformist style comes to the fore in this piece, which has utility as a table for breakfast in bed.

Marcel Breuer’s Wassily Chair is also known as the Model B3 chair designed by Breuer in 1926 when he headed the cabinet making in Bauhaus. There is something magical in the beholding of this chair, the geometric planes appear to be suspended in space and the use of lightweight tubular steel and leather straps is ingenuous to say the least.

The Barcelona chair was designed by Mies Van Der Rohe and Lily Reichin in 1929 for the international design fair in Barcelona, Spain. This chair is representative of the Bauhaus design movement and it is considered functional art not just a chair. Maybe the folding chairs of the Pharaohs inspired its created.

Isamu Noguchi was an extremely talented and gifted sculptor, architect, furniture maker and landscape designer. He is a Japanese American and famous for his organic modern forms. The Noguchi coffee table has an unmistakable simplicity that defies logic, yet refined and natural. This table has become one of the most sought after pieces of modern furniture.
About Author:
Jane Cooper writes for a Houston furniture outlet and clearance furniture store in Houston.