Retro furniture is a blend of nostalgia and contemporary design, often dating back to the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. It is not the same as modern furniture, which is bright and colorful. Retro design involves mixing various styles and objects from the past with contemporary elements, creating an artful arrangement of old and new. Retro interior design incorporates modern furniture, psychedelic colors, and a mix of new and old. The mid-century modern era is a prime example of retro design.
Retro style furniture is characterized by vibrant colors, geometric patterns, and iconic furniture pieces that mirror or pay homage to the past while still blending seamlessly into modern environments. It can be tapped into any era, with the 50s, 60s, and 70s being the most common. Retro furniture is not necessarily date-able to the recent past, but rather purposefully dateable to the recent past.
De Machinekamer offers a unique collection of vintage and new design furniture, including tubular frame and industrial chairs, Scandinavian tables, and retro and vintage design. Retro furniture offers a captivating blend of nostalgia and contemporary design, making it an ideal choice for commercial spaces seeking to create a unique and nostalgic atmosphere.
In conclusion, retro furniture is a versatile and funky style that can be incorporated into modern environments. It is characterized by vibrant colors, geometric patterns, and iconic pieces that mirror or pay homage to the past while blending seamlessly into modern environments.
📹 The obsession with mid-century furniture design, explained
If you’ve gone to a furniture store recently, you have probably come in contact with mid-century modern furniture, even if you don’t …
Is retro furniture in style?
Retro furniture, which is intentionally designed to evoke a sense of nostalgia for a bygone era, represents a style that transcends the boundaries of time. It draws inspiration from the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, reflecting the distinct aesthetic of each era. To create a home design that is both stylish and reflective of a particular era, one might consider incorporating vintage pieces from Coaster Furniture or high-quality modern pieces inspired by the past. Select items that evoke a sense of nostalgia to construct a distinctive and aesthetically pleasing residence.
What does Retro style look like?
Retro clothes are based on old styles and designs, often made from contemporary fabrics using modern machinery and methods. They have a modern feel while a nod to past times. The term “retro” comes from the Latin for backwards, and retro clothing imitates the physical appearance of past fashions.
There are several reasons to buy vintage and retro clothing, including attending vintage events like the Goodwood Revival, which celebrate iconic events like motor races and World War II. Enthusiasts at these events often source vintage clothing from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, showcasing the rich history of the past.
Is retro 80s or 90s?
Retro style is a style that imitates trends, fashions, or attitudes from the recent past, typically involving a vintage of at least fifteen or twenty years. It is an outdated fashion that has become fashionable again. The term “retro” comes from the Latin prefix “retro”, meaning “backwards” or in past times. Retro items can be brand new or old, but they must be made in the style of the time or item they are trying to replicate. The difference between retro and vintage is that vintage refers to the aesthetic construction, while retro refers to the appearance.
Is retro 70s or 80s?
Retro design is a style that draws inspiration from past trends and art forms, such as graphic design, music, and fashion. It typically refers to design styles from the 60s, 70s, and 80s, and can be an updated version or inspired by its features. Retro design evokes nostalgia and emotional investment in viewers, making it popular with both familiar and new audiences. The 60s was a decade of psychedelic movement, with youth rebellion against cultural norms and conventions.
The psychedelic movement inspired artists to experiment with forms and colors, resulting in designs featuring distorted visuals, flowing patterns, and bright colors. This style is popular with both familiar and new audiences.
What is the difference between vintage and retro design?
Vintage and retro items are often confused, but they are distinct concepts. Vintage refers to authentic items from a past era, while retro refers to new items made to imitate past items. Urban Americana, located in Long Beach, offers a variety of vintage furniture, including chairs, couches, dining tables, lamps, and storage options. For those outside Long Beach, Urban Americana offers daily updates on their selection, providing a convenient way to furnish your home with vintage pieces.
What is meant by Retro style?
A retro look refers to the style and nostalgia of the past, often reviving the glamour of Hollywood in the 1930s. This style is characterized by its speckled colorway and light wood accents, which add a contemporary touch to even the most modern cookware. Examples of retro fashions include Howard wearing a gray suit, a collared shirt with undone top buttons, and tan suede boots. The Lotus Atelier orange mushroom lamp also gives off a retro vibe.
For retro gamers, the 1CHIP Super Nintendo consoles are highly sought after and can sell for well over $200. Overall, retro fashions aim to capture the lost glamour of the past and are often associated with nostalgia and nostalgia.
What era is retro furniture?
Retro furniture refers to pieces from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, or new pieces made in the style of these eras. It represents a movement in design that embraced modern design, becoming widespread and available on a mass production level in the 1950s. Mass market furniture brands like G-Plan, Cosco, Herman Miller, and Ercol Windsor dominated the British and American furniture market with glossy advertisements, fashionable designs, and affordable prices.
By the late 1950s, Scandinavian design had taken firm hold of the furniture industry, impressing western consumers with its bold minimalism, sleek functionality, and low production costs. The Danish-style sideboard remains one of the world’s bestselling retro pieces.
What defines retro style?
Retro style is a term used to describe new artifacts that self-consciously refer to the past, such as music, fashions, or attitudes. It has been used since 1972 to describe both new artifacts and styles created in the past. Retro style focuses on the recent past, focusing on products, fashions, and artistic styles produced since the Industrial Revolution, the successive styles of Modernity. The term retro comes from the Latin prefix retro, meaning backwards or in past times.
In France, the term rétro gained cultural currency with reevaluations of Charles de Gaulle and France’s role in World War II. The French mode rétro of the 1970s was reappreciated in film and novels, and was soon applied to nostalgic French fashions that recalled the same period. The term “rétro” has gained cultural currency in recent years.
What does retro style look like?
Retro clothes are based on old styles and designs, often made from contemporary fabrics using modern machinery and methods. They have a modern feel while a nod to past times. The term “retro” comes from the Latin for backwards, and retro clothing imitates the physical appearance of past fashions.
There are several reasons to buy vintage and retro clothing, including attending vintage events like the Goodwood Revival, which celebrate iconic events like motor races and World War II. Enthusiasts at these events often source vintage clothing from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, showcasing the rich history of the past.
How to make furniture look retro?
To make modern furniture look vintage, follow these seven tips:
- Sand and clean your furniture if it’s unfinished. If it’s unfinished, lightly sand its surface.
- Use solid wood pieces for your furniture.
- Apply the right paint techniques.
- Enhance wood stains.
- Distress your furniture with sandpaper.
- Opt for the perfect wood finishes.
A vintage home decor looks perfect with the right furniture. If you have some furniture that doesn’t fit your vintage decor, don’t throw them away. Instead, fake the desired age by distressing and adding an aged look to your favorite furniture with paint and sandpaper.
What is the concept of retro design?
Retro design is a style that imitates or is consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from the historical past, including music, fashions, and attitudes. It is also known as “vintage-inspired” and is a throwback design genre that incorporates design elements from decades past. Modern retro, also known as “modern retro”, focuses on designs from the 60s and 70s, with niche genres influenced by other decades like 20s art deco and 90s blocky shapes. This style aims to give the viewer a sense of nostalgia.
📹 15 MOST ICONIC FURNITURE DESIGN IN HISTORY
Want to make sure that your next home decor project stands the test of time? Starting to build a collection of furniture pieces that …
Worth a mention in this article… During WWII, a lot of materials were rationed for the war, so they weren’t really available anymore for basic consumer uses. Materials rarely, previously used, like plastics and aluminum became readily available and designers decided to build furniture with it as well.
To a large extent, I think the obsession is caused by the fact, that we still associate mid-century modern with something futuristic. It is a flashback of future once promised but never actually achieved. Failing to fulfill the visions of flying cars and space-travel, this is our way how to fill in that void. A way how to at least partially relive the future that never happened.
Although I personally find the style timeless and have a few items from the era at home, one has to admit the current popularity and ubiquity is a fad. I’ve once read that each generation rejects the aesthetics of their parents and embraces the aesthetics of the grandparents and this seems very true. The original furniture from that era is built to last and very well designed, but you can already see an interest in the 80s.
I think the biggest reason is that Millenials came into adulthood famously indebted and impoverished. Our elders’ midcentury cast-offs were easily accessible in thrift stores and as hand-me-downs in the family. My bedroom set is from the 1950s. I love it, but there’s no question that I have it because it was inexpensive in the 90s when my parents bought it from an estate sale and I still use it because the expense of replacing it would be obscene. And frankly, I like the design. Always have. There’s no question the design is good… But I think the main reason it resonates with our generation is that it was what was available to us.
midcentury can be characterized as high art in that it feels timeless and is aesthetically pleasing regardless of context and social trends. this is rare for cutting edge, futuristic designs which generally attain popularity just for being ‘different’ and rebelling against current norms (ie. think ‘statement’ pieces) rather than for being objectively pleasing.
Well, I have the MA in industrial design and let me tell you, even though your style would have been something else in the beginning the “form follows function” as well as “costs down” was brainwashed to our minds in Uni and the professors made it clear that anything else was not expectable. From my point of view, many of these “mid century modern” pieces are not necessary particularly ergonomic. E.g the famous LCW chair 5:40 in is much too low for older people to comfortably sit in and get up. They kept the costs down by using as much as possible pieces from the same factory. Otherwise the legs and spine would have been metallic. Nowadays it would be cheaper to buy those pieces metallic because steam molded plywood takes lots of time and man hours. That’s why you see the metallic version in Ikea. It’s all about costs.
These designs were also much more cost effective to produce and used stronger and (eventually) cheaper materials like metal and plastic. Because they were marketed as the height of good design, companies could then charge more for each piece as a luxury item despite their structural simplicity and make more profit than on traditional styles of furniture requiring intricate hand labor and craftsmanship. Not knocking the aesthetic, I love MCM, but it should be noted that the style’s enduring popularity had more to do with manufacturers pushing it than through organic, ‘grass-roots’ nostalgia.
My favorite, back in the day when I was a kid, was the materials that they used on couches in the 50’s. They were amazing in texture, and also the satin quilted bedspreads were to die for. All the fabrics were top quality and the designers were brilliant and I miss that. By the 70’s, fabrics were getting cheaper in quality and ugly designs were ‘in’. Beautiful designs in fabric were a thing of the past and I still mourn the day when ugly was all you could buy !
2:12 What she said, basically sums up why “mid-century” is so beloved. Clean, beautiful, experimental designs. 6:25 “There’s just something very kinda cool about that era”. I think because America was thriving at that times, the housing industry and car industry, Fashion Industry were booming. Classic Americana just resonates with so many of us. I remember seeing a old picture of my Grandfather standing in front of his 54′ Cadillac Seville and his new home in the background. As a kid seeing that I just thought, Wow that’s America! I remember seeing pictures of all the men in my family wearing shirts and ties and the women wearing beautiful dresses and heels, to every event. That’s just my experience.
The new materials made the new shapes possible. Midcentury Modern design was born mainly from the principles of the Bauhaus: mass production of quality design for the masses. The architects and furniture designers of the 1920s and 30s were the trailblazers of this new approach to both materials and structure. But it took another 20 years (midcentury) to catch on, which is typical for most new things.
Honestly one of the reasons I really like this furniture style is the small footprint. In a tiny apartment, I can’t really have a recliner but I could fit an egg chair in here. The design is super functional, light, and bright. So I can have the interesting curves and colors without enormous stately pieces of furniture
Awesome analysis! I’m an aspiring trader who would rather learn from other traders’ experience than investing in the market myself, in anticipation of the next bull run. What are your thoughts on copy trading as well? Do individuals actually earn a living? Just trying to get some reassurance. I want to have a healthy portfolio worth at least $850,000. Reliable inputs please.
First of all that you @global New for bringing me across this article, I am working on a project on the furniture market and your content really helped me out to understand the reasons behind current prevailing furniture designs, But I also wanted to thank each and every person who commented on this article. I went through each and every comment (Cause I was feeling excited to read them) and I got a diverse perspective towards the MCM furniture design. Thank You all 🥰
Stop, NO! The MoMA did NOT seek to lift up capitalism over communism. Their FIRST female exhibitionist was a Russian Federation sculptor who emigrated to America in the 30’s to escape Jewish persecution. Eva Zeisel EPITOMIZED mid century modern homeware design and she had been a communist, and had worked closely with Stalin. Her designs for dishes and service were equivalent to what furniture designers were doing. Graceful, sweeping lines that mimicked the folds of our hands and the gentle cup it makes, simple, elegant, but somehow maternal designs that were meant to be held and caressed. I HATE WHEN PEOPLE TRY TO SHOVE THEIR MODERN PROPAGANDA INTO HISTORY, but it’s like they say, communists gonna communist.
My mother was a decorator and artist. Growing up we had a house full of mcm furniture. My dad was a builder and they would go to LA to furniture shows and buy Eeames furniture, tables, chairs, and lamps. George Nakishima is a favorite also. I loved the classic mid century homes my dad built and mother decorated.
I can only think of 2 styles that far outlived their day. Mid mod, and the French furniture of the 1700s: Louis XV and Louis XVI. Even though Louis lost his head in 1789 that style endured throughout the next 100 years, and you even see it peaking back up at places like Restoration Hardware. Probably for the same reasons, comfortably, stylish through the ages and both styles mix well with all other styles. Our world is dying with Corona – but death brings a new beginning, and a time for a new generation to step forward and claim its own. Louis XV came out of the financial collapse of the Mississippi Bubble, Mid Century Modern out of the ashes of World War II. Millennials, your time has come, seize the day, create a style and call it your own – after all you’ve had months of quarantine to think about it – we are waiting!
I ve been transforming my ground floor rooms to mid century design piece by piece. I’m a healthy 67. My family and I actually lived in these times. We had the starburst clocks, the big blocky console TV/stereos, the chairs we thought were so futuristic. I’m going to retire soon. Going mid century is like going back home. I’m very skilled with tech. I don’t shun it. The world outside can move along (and I with it) but inside my house I’m relaxing in 1964.
To be honest I don’t think this explanation is the reason. I just think people think mid century modern sounds fancy but most people don’t know its aesthetics. Even when people refer to old furniture they just refer to it as mid century but the thing just looks like it came out of ikea with a boring design.
Mid century modern furniture also fits the bill for car design. With traditionally timeless car design you usually see that they come out quite simple and straight forward designs, and thats why some people see cars from all eras, as “timeless” because it fits the same simple design language of older cars, which tryed to get the basic feeling of even older cars, that were simple for the fact that they were limited in what they could do with cars at the time.
One of the finest examples of mid century design was the interior of the ill-fated Italian ocean liner Andrea Doria of 1953. Some of the furniture was by Gio Ponti whose designs were made and sold by the American company Singer & Sons. In one suite was a colorful painting shaped like a television screen in a modern white frame with 2 sliding panels. One lounge had chairs that almost looked like they were upholstered in fur while one of the dining rooms had crown shaped wall sconces and panels of a blond marbleized wood. And the whole ship managed to be luxuriously modern without being palatial – another aspect of mid century: “Palatial” was definitely out.
I found a mid century early 50’s (the clerk, around 70 said) coffee table and side table (SUPER LIGHTWEIGHT + fit in my VW beetle since the legs unscrewed super easily) at my local saint vincent de paul for $20 altogether. It was like winning the lottery!! The clerk said they get things like that all the time and shoppers aren’t a fan of them so they sit for super long.
Im a millennial and I LOVE MCM! Grew up perusal reruns from Nick@Nite and when I got my first apartment I realized brand new furniture sucked in quality. They were all press board/particle board crap. So I went to 2nd hand stores and bought vintage solid made furniture they looked funkier and Mid Century. But these nostalgia cycles aren’t new. Hippies in the 60s loved Art nouveau, GenXers loved mission and craft-man styles
I think it’s beautiful design. But personally, I’m ready for something new. I hope that this generation can define its own style, something that reflects US. You may disagree, but when I see new mid-century modern pieces in people’s apartment tour articles I just think to myself, “Wow, they really think their apartment doesn’t look like every single other white girl’s apartment today” I’m bored of it. It looks beautiful in a magazine, but I’m personally more inspired by furniture that actually shows me something I haven’t seen before. I love the multi-color terrazzo table from Shiro Kuramata, for example.
Because it is beautiful, of a given geometric shape, emphasis on gorgeous wood grain, colorful, not endlessly monochromatic values of white/beige/grey, ultra clean: like sculpture: timeless, not fussily ornate, busy patterns, deemphasis on wood grain as is Traditional…Modern is American/Nordic not borrowed.
I wish I could remember the name of this movie. It was shot in the 60’s. Most of the scenes took place in a hotel, if I remember correctly. The whole movie was filled with nothing but mid century modern furniture. It totally rocked. Wanna say it was a Rock Hudson or Gary Grant movie, but I may be wrong.. It is all so fuzzy and I cannnot remember the name of the movie.
I was born in ’61 so by the time I was a teenager, most of that furniture was relegated to the basement or furnishing first time apartments. I saw it as old stuff and as it was also massed produced, it was even tacky looking. Unfortunately, it still looks that way to me. I can see that the designs were well thought out, I can appreciate that era but it seems cold and it’s not the type of furniture I want to be surrounded with. I don’t mind it in an office setting but not in my home. I have some mid-nineteenth century pieces that were so well made that 170 years later; they’re still functional and beautiful today. Alas, antiques are out of fashion now. I’m still keeping my furniture though, I’ll upgrade it and I’ll keep it from filling our already full dumps for another decade or more. Maybe antiques will be back in fashion by then and someone will adopt them and love them like I do. I really hate trends… Once they catch on, they always become tacky.
I honestly think mid-century is here to stay because it’s *light*. I don’t know of other styles that do that. The tall legs and clean lines just lift the furniture off the floor. It gives you a more minimalist, open, airy feel in a room that would otherwise feel cluttered and stuffy if you put in like, a typical R.C. Willey couch. And it’s the opposite of the overstuffed, heavy, dark “grandma furniture” that younger people are eager to get away from and don’t want to inherit.
I feel like no one has mentioned the feeling that design gives the human mind. There is a sense of warmth and comfort about “MC” design that makes people feel good about living in their space. A stark white house with black contrast doesn’t feel lived in or like a loving home anymore! People want to feel warm and happy in their environments. Straight lines and sharp corners feel assertive, I think we just want to love our homes and spaces the way the deserve to be loved. A home gives off good energy if that’s the kind of energy that’s built it ❤
Modernist minimalist furniture style has had staying power because its simplicity makes it cheap to manufacture and easy to mix and match, it’s why so many people associate with “Ikea.” And retro entertainment taking place in the 50s-70s period has been popular. The downside is unlike the 50s-70’s, colorful is very not in right now, sterile slate grey colors and white are what’s in making for a kind of bland style at the moment so I always admire the odd person willing to throw a little bit of chartreuse in with it.
MCM style is simple, functional, versatile, and chic. It caters well to modern aesthetics and easy to work with when styling rooms. They blend well together, yet can also function as statement pieces with proper placement. It also gives off the cozy feeling of warmth and being natural with the woods and fabric choices compared to many of today’s cold steel, glass, and black-and-white designs.
Over simulation, dynamic environments and an over-bearing demand for successful results rapidly might have resulted in pastiche or expressing ourselves through nostalgia as a medium to offset and ‘slow down’ time. There’s plenty of writing by scholars Svetlana Boym, Mark Fisher and Bifo Berardi on this idea. In support of this Knoll and Herman Miller’s purchasing of mid-century patents in the 1990’s was just a way to rapidly regain success as a result of a maturing/declining market for office furniture.
If you look to the past for American furniture, you have neocolonial stuff, mid century and the closely related 60’s and 70s industrial psychedelia, nutty 80’s stuff like Memphis and Michael Graves, and since the 90’s the only new trend with any legs is industrial. The only one that I would want to have in my home is mid century and maybe some 70’s stuff for fun accents.
This is a well done documentary. Thank you for mentioning The Bauhaus. The times were dreary and sad, but the incredible innovation of that era is inspiring. Also, it was great that you included female designers throughout the documentary. The research was thorough for only seven and a half minutes. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾🏆🤓
It all started when Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen designed the “organic” chair as a submission for the Museum of Modern Art’s furniture design competition. Organic shapes and lines that contour the shape of the human body using unconventional and inexpensive materials in response to post-war material rations. It was a solution for post-war America looking for stylish and affordable furniture. Ultimately, the submission was deemed a failure by both designers since mass producing moulded plywood wasn’t possible at the time.
Can it also be that designing is not easy. So there is this massive reservoir of great design that’s as made but never fully experienced. So now that mass manufacturing is prevalent, but mass design is not. It’s easiest to just dip into a proven, abundant, actually good design library – and stamp out a lot of pieces. It’s like fast fashion for furniture, but with recycling designs. They didn’t cover all that – the manufacturer and supply chain aspect of it. Cause of course that plays a major role too in shaping what is popular.
It’s because it’s cheap to manufacture! Nothing to do with actual aesthetic preference, the market doesn’t give you many other affordable options. I loathe the aesthetic because it looks and feels like work. So ready for something new. Also it’s never that ergonomic. The Chaise Lounge and sofas do not provide neck support. The chairs are hard, etc etc. We can do better.
Mid LAST century design. Le Corbusier started designing 100 years ago. 100 years before that, the Empire style was popular. My point is, if you like something, buy it. Enjoy it. Yes, study the history of the design movement of its day, learn about the tastes and forces that brought styles in, and what took them out again. The only bad design is any object that does not suite its task well. If you like it, it’s good.
Cause it is Modern sleek lines and inspired by Frank Lloyd Write and his Concious Thoughts aligned with what inspires all decor/architecture creative minds… Cause it defines the flow of the universe we are part of. – a Quantum Physics answer, and Quantum Physics also took a Quantum Leap forward in that era. The Golden Ratio always applies…
Good. It better not “go anywhere anytime soon” because I have loved it since 2003 when my art teacher introduced me to Frank Lloyd Wright. Honestly even it falls out of favor, I really won’t care. I’ll die happily with the pieces I have/will collect. Visiting the FLW house at Crystal Bridges really set my heart on this being fundamental in my style.
Apple IS the reason why good product design is finally appreciated. Even more so, all of Apple products are almost carbon copies of Dieter Rams Braun designs who was a pioneer in modern products, including furniture design (shelving Units). Apple’s Identity and design aesthetics are also based on swiss design, used again during the mid-century revolution for companies such as Knoll. Thanks to Apple, we see Design as a problem solver, as we once did from the days of Bauhaus.
I don’t know about the American mid century furniture, but the Skandinavien pieces are made with superior quality and craftmanship. The makers in the 50s and 60s still knew the way to build stuff like in the old days and combined that with the opportunities of machinery and factory production. Hard to find nowadays…
Its funny today that designers still don’t understand the the ‘comfort’ talk by OGs like Eames was a ruse, the lounge chairs especially are less comfortable than their predecessors, these modern day experts haven’t even grasped this commonly known conceit from 70 years ago, as people in the 50s would say, what a bunch of rubes.
Mid-century modern was not just about industrial and furniture design. It was a general movement involving Architecture, graphic design, printing, fashion and product design. The reason why it is so successful is because things were actually crafted and experimental approaches were admitted. Designers had the full freedom to explore and change the world after the worst war the modern world has seen. Another important aspect is the level of simplicity. Simple and functional design last much longer(as a trend) than over detailed stuff. It will take a while until we a have a design movement as powerful as Modernism.
Imagine the whole world with no plastic anywhere. This had been the real world for billions of years until the 1960s. When Oil manufactures found a use for the sludge waste resulting from oil refining. So I love anything without plastic. Because plastic is horrible for the environment but the Oil industry pays the government to hide that information from the public.
This completely missed the mark. She’s talking about furniture from Wayfair and Ikea, while they’re talking about pieces that are high-end, and often, one of a kind. The famous pieces may be comfortable and/or artful in design, but the cheaper crap from internet retailers are not. This movement isn’t hanging around because the designs are so great, it’s because they’re cheap to mass produce, and require less material to make, which also makes them cheaper to ship.
I never buy those curvy chairs and amoeba coffee tables. They are uncomfortable and don’t fit properly in a living room. They are for looks more than a living space. The furniture still exists in the lobbies of old aerospace companies that I’m employed at. I prefer square tables, chairs, and sofas that don’t evoke any era.
I loved my Eichler in Diamond Heights San Francisco. I picked it up in late 80s for practically nothing. I moved about 10 years later. I’ve never been happier than in that type of architecture. I love everything about that era. I find it interesting you mention it sort of picks up where the 20s left off due to the war. The 20s is another magnet era for me. I have to say the Case Study Houses #22 The Stahl House designed by Koenig, and shot by Schulman must have been somehow emblazoned on my brain at a very early age. I recognize every angle of it instantly. But Schulman made it world famous with just one shot. Breathtaking! Perhaps these homes were really designed for the kids born during their construction. My dad absolutely abhorred my place, we never saw eye to eye where construction was concerned, he was a contractor for quite some time. I had my own ideas about things, being raised around Eichlets in Sunnyvale Ca, during a time of increased Japanese immigration. I embraced our newly planted friends with gusto. Their love of simplicity, balance and nature just got my soul so well. The gardens, the koi ponds, just fantastic. Again, my dad, lost in space with my new obssession. Or perhaps it was my youngest years spent mainly up at my grandma’s extremely modern and stylish ranch house. One can never be sure. All I know is, Mid Century Modern is in my blood, forever!
Fascination with Mid Century Modern has to do with a time with big names, great achievements and all the charm and sophistication that comes with it. Even for a minimalist, functional trend. For the best masterpieces in Mid Century Modern, Barcelona Design is the best place in America, with pieces like the Barcelona Chair.
I don’t see it as such a big deal as they make it out to be. It represents an aesthetics of a certain era, but that’s about it. Not everyone’s cup of tea, and certainly not all of it. Some of the pieces are really ugly looking and very outdated. Especially hate those hard wooden armrests on the armchairs. They are extremely uncomfortable. Some shapes are downright bizarre and not good looking. There is a few pieces that withstood the test of time, like we have with almost all the past styles, but that’s about it. I don’t see what’s all the rage and fascination about it with some. I guess snobbery and lack of new inventions makes them go to this style and proclaim themselves experts on it so that they can feel superior over others. Yawn! It’s just a furniture, ffs!!!
Mid-mod furniture is successful because it is honest design. New materials were used for their structural possibilities. Designers paid more attention to ergonomics than they did in the past. The influence of Bauhaus spread out of Germany. Mass manufacture made good design accessible. There was an air of optimism after the war; the future was something to be welcomed after years of fighting. The frivolity of Post-modernism put a temporary halt to mid-mod in the 1980s, but could not hold it back forever. I think mid-mod with be with us for quite a while.
It’s the perfect mix of elegant, sophisticated quality and modern minimalism. My boyfriend and I are currently living in his grandma’s house that is filled with 50s furniture. We intend to keep a lot of the pieces, since they are still in amazing shape and do them up a little for when we build our own house. I also feel like that singers like Lana del Rey kind of kicked off a bit of an aesthetic revival for American 50s and 60s style. It’s definitely a reason for me. To me personally, I also feel in touch with my grandmothers, aunts and my mom, when I’m around old furniture. I feel like the 60s were so close to achieving real change in this world, but ultimately failed. We are in a similar situation right now, I believe. I feel like I can relate to this style in a strange way. I also like to dress a bit vintage sometimes and listen to old music, do my makeup like back then etc. I feel like I’m living a kind of freedom my female ancestors didn’t have and want to honor them. My grandma’s lives were made miserable through entitled men. I fell like they couldn’t really enjoy this era, because they were preasured so much, so I’m trying to live out today’s freedom for them.
The era has been jamming thrift stores for the last ten years. They could not give that furniture away. You could pay a huge price tag or go to the thrift store. By the way the 80s are coming back and guess what also at the thrift store. The reason why the public loves the mid century modern or the 80s is poverty.
These designs are just fantastic. I live in a house with mid century modern furniture etc etc since 1985 and wil never change it. I started collecting back in 1983 whem the prices were rather low and before it became a trend. There was plenty of stuff available from flea markets and junk shops at that time. You had to have some luck but even Dutch design classics could be found for cheap.
I agree that there’s something timeless and elegant about the style, and it will probably stay present in some way for the next century. However, I don’t think it will sustain the peak trendyness it has right now because it’s hyped too much. It will probably move to the background of interior design, only to resurface some time in the future, maybe with an updated twist.
Amazing that this article fails to mention the one thing that popularized Mid Century stye beyond all others in the past decade – the tv show Madmen. It was night and day when walking into furniture stores pre and post Madmen. The average furniture store didn’t carry any MC style pieces at all. I remember this well. As soon as Madmen hit, it was suddenly everywhere.
Mid century modern is never going out of style because it’s the only style from the past that doesn’t have a baggage or war, coloninialisim or racism and instead gives a feeling of only pleasing visual aesthetic which is the idea at the start it was a way to forget ww1 and again ww2 the emotional weight of this furniture is as thin as the material it’s made of, and that is the truth
It’s sad that we now make cheap afterthoughts and copies instead of continuing the idea originated back then. Today we have more means and possibilities yet everything is standardized. I only buy original pieces. And even though that’s expensive it either keeps or increases in value. So over the long run it’s a win on all levels.
“after the war Americans needed to learn how to live after the war..they got rich and bought a lot of houses”-meanwhile in Europe where the war actually was…they got poor, I do believe it was Europeans who needed to learn how to live after the war, after their countries were occupied by Nazis, destroyed millions died
If you went to school in the 1960s, you will remember how G*d-awful those Eames chairs were. If you sat up, the back pushed you forward. If you slouched, your butt slid off the seat because of the plastic or slick finish on the plywood. Meanwhile, the top edge of the back cut into your back just below the shoulder blades. The Eames’ made their original modern chair (not the lounge chair) by placing a very large blob of modeling clay on a bench in the hallway. Since they were looking for a universal shape, they asked everybody who ever came to their house to sit on the clay. Like the old song says: “short ones, tall ones, fat ones, small ones.” After a couple months, they had the shape they were looking for and it went into production. Voila!! It actually fit NOBODY!!! But being the intellectual design snobs and self-promoters they were, they sold it as a triumph. Of course they are great looking, but they S**K. In fact, I think the Eames couple was way over-hyped. And then Charles dumped Ray and shacked up with a student of his. And that was the end of their career arc. Personally, I have never been a fan of the Eames recliner either. I find it overstyled and heavy. Wife and I have two original chrome and leather Stressless recliners from Ekornes. THAT is good design. And they fit perfectly with our restored/updated mid-1950s Vegas house.
I disliked this stuff as a kid. Especially those ‘sputniky’ little tables with tripod legs and laminate tops. Also the plastic – moulded tables and chairs. I associated the design with grainy, old magazines printed on matt paper, and women in staid fifties hairstyles and frocks. We called it ‘sputnik stuff’. Maybe nowadays genZ might rename the look ‘coronavirus – style’… Funny how things come round.. However, there were some items that I liked. My parents bought two black leather button – down armchairs with beautiful, deep, rich dark teak arms. We all loved them. Sadly, they’re long gone. But anyone who finds them… congrats! You’ve got a real gem. Ps Who thinks bent plywood is ‘stylish’? I don’t know anyone who ever found that ‘iconic design’ either comfortable or pleasing.
There were many art movements, and honestly, many are not that bad. It’s just after modernism, we had Post modernism, which was the death art move movments. Regardless of what’s said, Post Modernism is the design of economics. everything is made to be cheap, and easily accessible. Post Modernism is a blight.
So no discussion about how millennials have no desire for the McMansions of their parents? They largely live in much smaller spaces and tend to seek out urban areas which are much denser with smaller living spaces. They are bogged down with debts that previous generations didn’t carry so more affordable furniture is preferred. There are a ton of social and economic factors that play into this design aesthetic. Millennials don’t want a house full of clutter, massive furniture, and kitschy decor. They move more frequently, live smaller, have less money to throw away, and overall just have no desire for the crap that is in our parents’ homes. And before someone jumps in and say, “No I haVE aLl of MY GraNnIes biG BeAUtiFUl aNTiqUeS” – well, yeah – there’s always an exception. Go sit over there.
I absolutely hate mid-century style and we are so stuck in it, it’s everywhere. Just bought my house and I’m having the hardest time buying furniture coz they all look the same. They say in the documentary that the design endured coz it’s a good design. Maybe but we also don’t have another choice. We are limited to what’s on the market. If you look at Europe or Asian, they have so many different styles and we have no access to it unless we pay hefty money for shipping them overseas.
I HATE midcentury modern and I really wish it’s popularity would decline because it makes it hard to find other styles. Midcentury modern, to me, feels cold and dull. It doesn’t feel comfortable and homey, it makes me feel like I’m in an office or a Warehouse. Midcentury modern is overrated, ugly, and completely without personality. It’s simplicity has made it cheap and easy to mass-produce, so unfortunately I don’t think it’s going to go away as quickly as I’d like.
Yes, please explain why people like this ugly stuff. “Beauty”? Really? . The 1950s-70s was the lost era of architecture and design. The Craftsmen era of 1890-1930 was full of character. Then it all went to pot in the 50s. NO character! Ugh. All so ugly! People only like it now because they think it’s old and antique since it’s been a few decades, but it’s not antique, its excessively modern. Luckily, the Craftsman era returned in the 90s and houses in urban areas are being built with character again. Think large picture windows with wood molding, wainscoting, chair rails, coved ceilings, beams, built-ins, beautiful old staircases. Now that’s character. But thin metal around vinyl tiny windows and no woodwork or anything added anywhere – that’s the ugly mid-century look. Craftsman is far superior, hands down. No competition.