Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
1950s European Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Upholstery
Late 20th Century Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Upholstery, Wood
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Metal
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Upholstery
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Upholstery, Wood
1950s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Chenille, Wood
1960s Danish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Teak
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Upholstery, Walnut
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Leather, Walnut
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Metal
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Metal
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Teak
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Chrome
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Walnut
1970s Czech Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Fabric, Oak
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Walnut
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Fabric
Mid-20th Century Swedish Scandinavian Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Leather, Teak
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Fabric, Cotton, Oak
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Upholstery, Wood
1950s Mexican Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Leather, Elm
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Metal
20th Century Norwegian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Leather, Wood
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Fabric
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Fabric, Faux Leather
1960s German Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Wood
1960s Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Metal
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Fabric, Wood
1940s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Bronze
1940s Danish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Mahogany
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Fabric
1950s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Steel
Mid-20th Century Swedish Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Pine
1980s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Chrome
1960s English Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Fabric, Upholstery
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Chrome
Mid-20th Century Mexican Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Cocobolo, Leather, Rosewood
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Nickel
1950s Swedish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Elm, Wool
20th Century Italian Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Upholstery, Wood
Mid-20th Century Swedish Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Upholstery, Wood
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Steel
Mid-20th Century Finnish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Wood, Wool
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Chrome
1970s North American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Upholstery
1960s Czech Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Faux Leather, Plywood
1950s Danish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Wool, Walnut
Mid-20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Rosewood
1970s Swedish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Leather, Rosewood
Mid-20th Century Norwegian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Beech, Cowhide
Mid-20th Century Norwegian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Cowhide, Beech
20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Leather, Teak
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Brass
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Metal
1940s Danish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Beech, Mohair
1930s Danish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Mohair, Beech
1970s Danish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Leather
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Upholstery
1970s Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Wood
1970s Australian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs
Leather, Plywood
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Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs For Sale on 1stDibs
How Much are Vintage Midcentury Lounge Chairs?
A Close Look at mid-century-modern Furniture
Organically shaped, clean-lined and elegantly simple are three terms that well describe vintage mid-century modern furniture. The style, which emerged primarily in the years following World War II, is characterized by pieces that were conceived and made in an energetic, optimistic spirit by creators who believed that good design was an essential part of good living.
ORIGINS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
- Emerged during the mid-20th century
- Informed by European modernism, Bauhaus, International style, Scandinavian modernism and Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture
- A heyday of innovation in postwar America
- Experimentation with new ideas, new materials and new forms flourished in Scandinavia, Italy, the former Czechoslovakia and elsewhere in Europe
CHARACTERISTICS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
- Simplicity, organic forms, clean lines
- A blend of neutral and bold Pop art colors
- Use of natural and man-made materials — alluring woods such as teak, rosewood and oak; steel, fiberglass and molded plywood
- Light-filled spaces with colorful upholstery
- Glass walls and an emphasis on the outdoors
- Promotion of functionality
MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW
- Charles and Ray Eames
- Eero Saarinen
- Milo Baughman
- Florence Knoll
- Harry Bertoia
- Isamu Noguchi
- George Nelson
- Danish modernists Hans Wegner and Arne Jacobsen, whose emphasis on natural materials and craftsmanship influenced American designers and vice versa
ICONIC MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNS
- Eames lounge chair
- Nelson daybed
- Florence Knoll sofa
- Egg chair
- Womb chair
- Noguchi coffee table
- Barcelona chair
VINTAGE MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS
The mid-century modern era saw leagues of postwar American architects and designers animated by new ideas and new technology. The lean, functionalist International-style architecture of Le Corbusier and Bauhaus eminences Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius had been promoted in the United States during the 1930s by Philip Johnson and others. New building techniques, such as “post-and-beam” construction, allowed the International-style schemes to be realized on a small scale in open-plan houses with long walls of glass.
Materials developed for wartime use became available for domestic goods and were incorporated into mid-century modern furniture designs. Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen, who had experimented extensively with molded plywood, eagerly embraced fiberglass for pieces such as the La Chaise and the Womb chair, respectively.
Architect, writer and designer George Nelson created with his team shades for the Bubble lamp using a new translucent polymer skin and, as design director at Herman Miller, recruited the Eameses, Alexander Girard and others for projects at the legendary Michigan furniture manufacturer.
Harry Bertoia and Isamu Noguchi devised chairs and tables built of wire mesh and wire struts. Materials were repurposed too: The Danish-born designer Jens Risom created a line of chairs using surplus parachute straps for webbed seats and backrests.
The Risom lounge chair was among the first pieces of furniture commissioned and produced by legendary manufacturer Knoll, a chief influencer in the rise of modern design in the United States, thanks to the work of Florence Knoll, the pioneering architect and designer who made the firm a leader in its field. The seating that Knoll created for office spaces — as well as pieces designed by Florence initially for commercial clients — soon became desirable for the home.
As the demand for casual, uncluttered furnishings grew, more mid-century furniture designers caught the spirit.
Classically oriented creators such as Edward Wormley, house designer for Dunbar Inc., offered such pieces as the sinuous Listen to Me chaise; the British expatriate T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings switched gears, creating items such as the tiered, biomorphic Mesa table. There were Young Turks such as Paul McCobb, who designed holistic groups of sleek, blond wood furniture, and Milo Baughman, who espoused a West Coast aesthetic in minimalist teak dining tables and lushly upholstered chairs and sofas with angular steel frames.
As the collection of vintage mid-century modern chairs, dressers, coffee tables and other furniture for the living room, dining room, bedroom and elsewhere on 1stDibs demonstrates, this period saw one of the most delightful and dramatic flowerings of creativity in design history.
Finding the Right lounge-chairs for You
While this specific seating is known to all for its comfort and familiar form, the history of how your favorite antique or vintage lounge chair came to be is slightly more ambiguous.
Although there are rare armchairs dating back as far as the 17th century, some believe that the origins of the first official “lounge chair” are tied to Hungarian modernist designer-architect Marcel Breuer. Sure, Breuer wasn’t exactly reinventing the wheel when he introduced the Wassily lounge chair in 1925, but his seat was indeed revolutionary for its integration of bent tubular steel.
Officially, a lounge chair is simply defined as a “comfortable armchair,” which allows for the shape and material of the furnishings to be extremely diverse. Whether or not chaise longues make the cut for this category is a matter of frequent debate.
The Eames lounge chair, on the other hand, has come to define somewhat of a universal perception of what a lounge chair can be. Introduced in 1956, the Eames lounger (and its partner in cozy, the ottoman) quickly became staples in television shows, prestigious office buildings and sumptuous living rooms. Venerable American mid-century modern designers Charles and Ray Eames intended for it to be the peak of luxury, which they knew meant taking furniture to the next level of style and comfort. Their chair inspired many modern interpretations of the lounge — as well as numerous copies.
On 1stDibs, find a broad range of unique lounge chairs that includes everything from antique Victorian-era seating to vintage mid-century modern lounge chairs by craftspersons such as Hans Wegner to contemporary choices from today’s innovative designers.
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