American Mid-Century Design
Furniture, lighting and objects designed in the United States from about 1945 to the mid-1960s, built on wartime materials and new suburban homes.
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About
After the Second World War, millions of new houses needed furnishing, and wartime methods were ready for civilian use. Moulded plywood, fibreglass, cast aluminium and welded wire all moved into living rooms. Charles and Ray Eames, who had made plywood leg splints for the US Navy, released a moulded fibreglass armchair in 1950. Harry Bertoia's wire Diamond Chair (1952) and Eero Saarinen's single-pedestal Tulip chair followed from Knoll.
Look for splayed, tapering legs, walnut and birch veneers, kidney and boomerang outlines, modular storage and cheerful upholstery. George Nelson directed design at Herman Miller, where his office produced the playful Marshmallow Sofa (1956). In Los Angeles, Greta Magnusson Grossman made lamps and furniture for open-plan houses, and in Arizona Rose Cabat threw small porcelain vessels with glazes as soft as fruit skins. The style faded in the later 1960s and came back strongly through reissues from the 1990s.
Related artists
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