Modern Furniture Around the World

The first pieces of modern furniture were designed and manufactured in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. While the boldest departures from classical furniture appeared before the middle of the 20th century, furniture continues to evolve today. Modern furniture is characterized by functional design with clean, simple lines-a sharp contrast to the heavily ornamented decorative furniture that was popular for centuries. European designers introduced the unique styles, but interest in modern furniture quickly spread to Los Angeles, New York, and other American cities.

Through the use of new methods and materials, furniture design combines art with technology. Designers use innovative materials such as plastics, molded plywood, and steel-all suitable for mass production. By decreasing cost and increasing the availability of pieces, mass production brought modern designs within the reach of ordinary people. Fine furniture was no longer a luxury only for the wealthy; rather than symbolizing old wealth, power, and the past, contemporary furniture is populist and present-oriented.

Modern furniture designers span the globe. The famous chair designs of the German-American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe were considered functional art when they came on the design scene in the 1920s. Isamu Noguchi, of American and Japanese descent, used his talents in landscape design and sculpture to create furniture with organic, natural lines. Irish-born Eileen Gray combined tubular steel and glass into a strikingly simple adjustable table. The Hungarian modernist Marcel Breuer employed industrial production principles to create simple modular forms. American poet and millwright Herman Miller was one of the first to design comfortable and functional office furniture; the company he founded now operates in over 40 countries around the world.

Different countries exert varying influences over modern furniture designs. European sofa beds, for example, are much simpler in style and mechanics than the typical American sofa beds. Minimalist lines and effortless operation make for trouble-free and uncomplicated pieces. Modern Italian furniture includes platform beds that appear to be floating above the floor. Modern Japanese designs tend to be organic, reflecting the natural world.

The reach of modern design is nearly universal. For today's fast-paced lives in urban centers like Chicago and Los Angeles, contemporary furniture is a perfect fit. It is efficient, neat, accessible and adaptable to typical city homes with limited space. But the demand for modern furniture has spread well beyond the cultural centers of the country. Spacious rural and suburban homes provide open areas for showcasing the elegant and clean lines of modern furniture. The practicality and comfort of contemporary pieces has by now trumped any reservations about what were once considered strange and alien designs.
For furnishing homes and businesses nothing tops modern furniture. It blends well with other styles, where it can play a background role to more traditional and ornate pieces, yet it can make a strong statement in an all-modern interior design. Contemporary furnishings are cool but not cold and simple but not boring. And because modern design is still evolving, the best is yet to come.