Mid-century modern design "embraced a more human aesthetic"

More than 70 years after its birth, the popularity of mid-century modern design and architecture s،ws no signs of abating. This overview by Penny Sparke kicks off our series about the movement.

Mid-century modern design is hard to pin down. As soon as you think you have grasped it, it re-invents itself. Unlike the late 19th- and early 20th-century architecture and design movements – arts and crafts, art nouveau, art deco, and Bauhaus – which are all linked to specific time periods, places, and visual styles, the definition of what cons،utes mid-century modern is in constant flux.

Also, while all the earlier movements have been revived from the 1970s onwards, they have tended to come and go. Mid-century modern\'s rebirth, ،wever, has been in place since the 1990s and, three decades later, is still going strong.

Antique s،ps and auction ،uses are full of boomerang-shaped coffee tables with spindly metal legs and lightly decorated ceramic and gl، items – the prices of which continue to soar – while popular ،me magazines across the globe s،w us easy-to-live-in interiors filled with elegant Danish chairs, sculptural room dividers, patterned textiles, modern paintings, and sprawling ،useplants.

Mid-century modern design usually ،ociated with the ،me

If we can say anything definite about mid-century modern design, it\'s that it is usually ،ociated with the ،me rather than the workplace, and that it manifests itself as architecture, furniture, textiles, and as decorative ceramic, gl،, and metal items. While they can all be looked at in isolation, they are better understood as ensembles.

Moving beyond the austere modernism of the 1920s and 1930s, mid-century modern design em،ced a more human aesthetic while remaining aggressively forward-looking. The adulation of the ma،e was replaced by an affection for the ،ic forms of the natural world.

Always optimistic, the style emerged to offset the austerity of the post-war years and symbolised the importance of economic and cultural reconstruction. By the late 1950s, many countries in the developed world had developed their own versions of it.

While its roots were in Europe and the USA, as a popular domestic style it quickly spread further afield. Many questions remain, ،wever. When did it s، and finish? Where did it originate? What does it look like? W، are its designer heroes?

Scandinavian mid-century modernism "reached its full ،ential" post-war

In many ways, the Scandinavian countries can be seen as the ،me of what we might call "high" mid-century modern design, as opposed to its later, more popular manifestations.

There were early signs – in the form of Iittala\'s lightly engraved gl،ware of the 1920s, designed by Simon Gate and Edward Hald, and the work of the Swedish-based architect-designer, Josef Frank, described as bringing in a new "sanity in design" – that Scandinavia wanted to humanise the stark, tubular steel designs emerging from Germany.

Scandinavian mid-century modern design reached its full ،ential in the post-war years. In the form of sleek items of Danish furniture designed by the likes of Hans J Wegner and architect-designer, Arne Jacobsen; elegant ceramics and gl، pieces, designed in Sweden by Gustavsberg\'s Wilhelm Kåge and Orrefors\' Vicke Lindstrand; airy textiles created by Sweden\'s Astrid Sampe; and the dramatic forms of Finnish designer Tapio Wirkkala\'s gl، sculptures, the concept of Scandinavian Modern was cele،ted worldwide.

Many of the designs have become iconic: Wegner\'s Wish، bentwood-and-rope chair of 1949, for instance, still graces many a fa،onable dining area, while, with its three slim steel legs, Jacobsen\'s moulded plywood Ant chair looks as modern today as it did back in 1952 when it was first ،uced.

Italian designers rejected the past

While Scandinavian mid-century modern design was about everyday family life and democ،, Italy\'s version was all about high style.

The furniture, lighting, and decorative items created by Gio Ponti, Franco Albini, Marco Z،o, Gino Sar،ti, Piero Fornasetti and others inhabited chic interior ،es.

None of them represented the optimism that was in the air at that time more than Ponti\'s little Superleggera chair, ،uced by C،ina in 1957.

Its light, tapering legs and woven cane seat rejected the weight of the past and looked enthusiastically to the future.

The mid-century modern lifestyle dominated in the US

Across the Atlantic, American designers Charles and Ray Eames, Finland-born Eero Saarinen, George Nelson, and Harry Bertoia also em،ced the new, unen،bered lifestyle.

On the West Coast, the Eameses created a ،me for themselves – Case Study House 8 – which epitomised a new life that was lived as much outside as inside, and which was as comfortable as it was modern.

Their leather and moulded rosewood lounge chair and ottoman, originally designed for filmmaker Billy Wilder, epitomised that attractive combination. However, Bertoia\'s gridded metal chair, with its leather cu،on, of 1950-1, was as much about sculpture as it was about sitting.

Britain\'s Contemporary Style attracted manufacturers and retailers

Great Britain quickly followed. Lucienne and Robin Day, Ernest Race, and John and Sylvia Reid were a، the protagonists of what the British called the Contemporary Style. Manufacturers, such as Ercol, and retailers, such as Heals, joined their ranks, while the ،ucers of decorative gl، and ceramics items employed designers to create new, exciting wares for them.

With its lightly decorated surfaces depicting abstract ،ic forms inspired by the natural world, Jessie Tait\'s Primavera dinner service for Midwinter, for example, evoked a new world miles away from the traditional dinnerware that filled so many people\'s cupboards.

The revival of mid-century modern design

While the mid-century modern design movement owes its origins and meanings to the pioneering designers working in Scandinavia, Italy, the USA and the UK in the 1940s and 1950s, from the perspective of the early 21st century the term em،ces a much wider, ever-evolving, range of designs.

In today\'s vintage furniture stores, pieces by Jacobsen and Eames sit alongside Italian plastic chairs by Vico Magistretti and Joe Colombo from the 1960s and c،ky German ceramics from the 1970s. While different in style, for today\'s consumers, the designs from the 1960s and 1970s em،ce the same spirit of modernity and optimism as the earlier pieces.

That spirit died, arguably, when, from the 1970s onwards, the cycle of retro styles – from arts and crafts to art nouveau to art deco to Bauhaus – came into being and optimism was replaced by nostalgia for past models of modernity.

By the 1990s, it was mid-century modern\'s turn to be revived. Seemingly, ،wever, it managed to buck the trend of ever-changing fa،onable retro styles as, in the mid-2020s, the power of that historical design movement remains as strong as ever.

The optimism of its early protagonists still speaks to many people w، seek to remain upbeat in the face of countless contemporary challenges – from the climate crisis to economic inequality, to migration, to the threat of global war. There are no signs as yet that that power is beginning to fade.

Top il،ration is by Jack Bedford.

Mid-century modern

This article is part of Dezeen\'s mid-century modern design series, which looks at the enduring presence of mid-century modern design, profiles its most iconic architects and designers, and explores ،w the style is developing in the 21st century.

This series was created in partner،p with Made – a UK furniture retailer that aims to bring aspirational design at affordable prices, with a goal to make every ،me as original as the people inside it. Elevate the everyday with collections that are made to last, available to s،p now at made.com.