5 Great Mid Century Modern Designers
Mid Century Modern Design
Mid Century Modern design has produced some of the most famous pieces of furniture in history and continues being popular today. There are many great designers from the period, and today we look at five of our favourites and the amazing designs they created.
1) Arne Jacobsen
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Arne Jacobsen (11 February 1902 – 24 March 1971) was born in Copenhagen and has become one of Denmark’s most renowned architects and designers, most notable for his contributions to the architectural Functionalism style of design and creating the ‘World’s First Designer Hotel’, the SAS Royal Hotel,for which he designed everything for the room layouts to the furniture to the cutlery. His style was based on proportionality and simplicity. His best-known pieces of furniture include the Egg Chair and the Swan chair, both of which he originally conceived for the hotel.
2) Hans Wegner
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Another great Danish designer was Hans Wegner (April 2, 1914 – January 26, 2007). One of the key figures in the ‘Organic Functionality’ school of design, his thoughtful, high-quality designs put a focus on function. His many incredible chair designs with created by stripping back the piece to its basic form and making it work to its best, both in terms of beauty and usability. The Wishbone chair and Ox Chair are two notable works (the inspirations for which are clearly visible in their design, whilst his best-known piece is probably The Chair – which become world-renowned after it was used in the Kennedy/Nixon presidential debate in 1961.
3) Verner Panton
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Another Dane, but one who took modern design to a truly futuristic level, Verner Panton (13 February 1926 – 5 September 1998), was an innovative mid century modern designer who experimented with production, shape and colour. His famous S Chair was the world’s very first single-form injection-moulded plastic chair, using a single of material to create the chic S shape. This was further improved upon and developed into his Panton Chair. He further played with shape and colour in creating his Cone and Heart chairs, and even designed his own psychedelic interiors, featuring ensembles of his furniture and other pieces, such as the Flower Pot Lights.
4) Charles and Ray Eames
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Not to be outdone by the Scandinavian set, the US was full of innovative mid century modern designers too. Among the most famous are Charles (1907–1978) and Ray Eames (1912–1988), who worked together as a couple to produce some of the most-loved chair designs ever created. Most well-known are probably their Eames chairs, with lettering signifying the key points of the design ie DAR was a Dining chair with Arms and Rod legs, a DSW was a Dining chair that was a Single chair with Wooden legs. Many of these chairs still populate homes around the world today, working perfectly alongside older and more contemporary design, such as our Wills sofa.
5) Isamu Noguchi
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Another great American mid century modern designer was Isamu Noguchi (November 17, 1904 – December 30, 1988), son of Japanese poet Yone Noguchi and American writer Leonie Gilmour. Notable for his skill as an artist and sculptor, as well as his furniture designs, much of which is on display in the Noguchi Museum in New York. His coffee table, pictured above, is one of his best-known pieces, along with his Butterfly stool and Cyclone tables.
Post written by Julie Fisher.
