Mid-century modern design still cutting-edge

The Tri-Symmetric chair, designed in 1958 by Vladimir Kagan, has been re-issued through Dennis Miller Associates

August 1, 2000
Web posted at: 1:14 p.m. EDT (1714 GMT)

In this story: Revived interest in fabrics Plastic laminate Increased accessibility RELATED STORIES, SITES

(AP) -- Modern furniture circa 1950-1970 was the sleekest, most avant garde style around. It's still sleek and avant garde -- but now it's the latest thing in antiques.

Original pieces are fetching top dollar, while reproductions and reissues also are playing starring or supporting roles in homes across the United States and Europe.

Lou Gropp, the soon-to-retire editor of House Beautiful, has seen it all -- twice. He and his wife live with mid-century modern pieces in their New York apartment. They bought some of the furniture years ago and over the years saw no reason to discard it.

"For a while, it was considered a little odd to live with this furniture," says Gropp. "Suddenly it's very chic."

Beyond his personal experience, Gropp says House Beautiful's editors are seeing mid-century modern design in homes. "Some are decorated in the style as a complete statement. But more often, we see a piece or two to give a little edge to a traditional room," he says.

"People use an Eames molded plywood chair or a piece by Eero Saarinen in the same way that they might have used an antique Chippendale or Chinese chair at a given point in the past. We should not be surprised. The mid-century era was a wonderful period when Herman Miller and Knoll were producing amazing designs that now have become collector's items."

The trend toward revivals and adaptations of furnishings from the 1950s to 1970s was heavily evident at trade shows this spring.

At NeoCon in Chicago, Maharam, a to-the-trade textile firm in New York, displayed a collection of 20 fabrics by mid-century designers.

Included were four patterns by Ray and Charles Eames, two by George Nelson, five by Verner Panton, five by Alexander Girard, one by Gio Ponti, two by Anni Albers and one by Pierre Charreau.

The Eames, Girard and Panton fabrics will be available in September -- and the balance by the end of 2000. Prices for the 54-inch cotton/polyester blends start at $63 a yard, through designers.

"We expected fans to buy, but it turns out that a broad range of people are buying the fabrics and using them in corporate offices, hotels and homes," says Michael Maharam, co-owner. "Martha Stewart Living and Renovation Style both have featured the fabrics in their pages."

A new generation of designers is embracing the styles of the early postwar era.

At the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York this spring, the Totem Design Group of New York showed off new furniture inside an orange canvas geodesic dome.

Fifties-era patterns in plastic laminate are enjoying renewed popularity, too, and Wilsonart Internation Inc. of Temple, Texas, restored an 1948 Airstream trailer to display some of these patterns at the show.

Also on display were '60s-era furniture and lamps, including pieces by Pierre Paulin and Verner Panton, manufactured by the Dutch firm Artifort.

The modernist lamps of Elsie Crawford were on display at ZumaLuma, Inc., of Belchertown, Massachusetts, and Akari Associates, in conjunction with the Noguchi Foundation of Long Island City, New York, showed lamps and lighting fixtures by Isamu Noguchi.

Dennis Miller Associates of New York, another exhibitor, markets 35 pieces of furniture by Vladimir Kagan, dating from the 1940s to the 1960s, as well as 11 pieces of T.H. Robsjohn Gibbings furniture from the 1950s.

Miller also is New York representative for furniture by Hans Wegner, Borge Mogensen and Finn Juhl, all important names in mid-century Scandinavian design.

Many of the most revered mid-century designs actually never went out of production. But they are more accessible than in the recent past.

"Even up to 10 years ago, you could not buy this type of furniture in New York unless you were accompanied by a decorator," says Nassir Kasamali, owner of Luminaire, a retail furniture store with branches in Miami and Chicago.

Icons of modern design, as well as new furniture in the same style can be found in stores around the country and in catalogs like Design Within Reach. Rob Forbes launched Design Within Reach in July, 1999, to serve design insiders, but others are finding their way to the catalog and Web site.

Aside from the visual appeal of mid-century modern, some see another reason for its renewed popularity.

"Design these days has become fashion statement," says Forbes. "In the 1950s and '60s, they were really thinking about materials and utility, and design seems to have had more integrity and purpose back then."

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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