What is Modern Furniture anyway?

Generally speaking, modern furniture refers to furniture from the latter half of the 20th century and on into contemporary styles. The term is sometimes referred to as "mod" or spelled "moderne" to better distinguish it. Often, amongst designers, they might define the term "modern" furniture more narrowly to refer to items produced by US manufacturers in the 50s and 60s.

The emergence of modern furniture represents one of the lesser-known consequences of World War II. It ushered in a new era in furniture design. Modern living not only required a chrome-plated gas guzzler, a washing machine, fridge/freezer and similar household appliances but also modern-looking living space.

Comfortable, affordable, and stylish furniture was desired. Mass production (and the innovation of foam upholstery for seating and sleeping furniture) ensured affordability and furniture designers supplied the other attributes, thanks to the advent of new synthetic building materials, like vinyl and tubular metal. This development, coupled with monochromatic color schemes, integrated modular elements with multiple uses, featuring curvilinear shapes, transformed domestic living rooms..

It was designers, such as Herman Miller, Florence Knoll Bassett, Hans Knoll, and Charles and Ray Eames, that bestrode the era of modern furniture. They favored innovations such as pedestal tables, modular sofas, sleek sideboards, shiny stools in place of chairs.. Vinyl replaced leather; bright prints superseded dark brocades; unadorned acrylic and plywood was employed instead of hardwood, and tubular steel instead of wrought iron.

New types of fabrication permitted the creation of sturdy, oversized, non-symmetrical, and fluid furniture. As a result, kidney-shaped items, ellipses, oblongs, S's, and flares replaced the circles, squares, and rectangles that characterised the home of the 1930s. The Art Deco colors of the pre-war period were rejected by a public now wedded monochromes, highlighted by contrasting bold colors such as turquoise, ruby red, chartreuse, and tangerine. Giant blocks of color added to the impact when they were set off against clear acrylic, blonde plywood, or shiny chrome.

Modern furniture was in tune with the new generation of families and their homes. New uses for furniture (convertible sofa beds, radio and television cabinets) were in demand, as were plastic shell seats and sectional storage units. Many pieces of modern furniture fulfilled multiple functions and radically altered the organization of informal living spaces. New technologies, new materials and new ideas had brought a new era to furniture design.

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