Post-Modern Cupboards
POSTMODERN STYLE
Postmodern design was a short-lived movement that manifested itself chiefly in Italy and the United States in the early 1980s. The characteristics of vintage postmodern furniture and other postmodern objects and decor for the home included loud-patterned, usually plastic surfaces; strange proportions, vibrant colors and weird angles; and a vague-at-best relationship between form and function.
ORIGINS OF POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
- Emerges during the 1960s; popularity explodes during the ’80s
- A reaction to prevailing conventions of modernism by mainly American architects
- Architect Robert Venturi critiques modern architecture in his Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966)
- Theorist Charles Jencks, who championed architecture filled with allusions and cultural references, writes The Language of Post-Modern Architecture (1977)
- Italian design collective the Memphis Group, also known as Memphis Milano, meets for the first time (1980)
- Memphis collective debuts more than 50 objects and furnishings at Salone del Milano (1981)
- Interest in style declines, minimalism gains steam
CHARACTERISTICS OF POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
- Dizzying graphic patterns and an emphasis on loud, off-the-wall colors
- Use of plastic and laminates, glass, metal and marble; lacquered and painted wood
- Unconventional proportions and abundant ornamentation
- Playful nods to Art Deco and Pop art
POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW
- Ettore Sottsass
- Robert Venturi
- Alessandro Mendini
- Michele de Lucchi
- Michael Graves
- Nathalie du Pasquier
VINTAGE POSTMODERN FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS
Critics derided postmodern design as a grandstanding bid for attention and nothing of consequence. Decades later, the fact that postmodernism still has the power to provoke thoughts, along with other reactions, proves they were not entirely correct.
Postmodern design began as an architectural critique. Starting in the 1960s, a small cadre of mainly American architects began to argue that modernism, once high-minded and even noble in its goals, had become stale, stagnant and blandly corporate. Later, in Milan, a cohort of creators led by Ettore Sottsass and Alessandro Mendini — a onetime mentor to Sottsass and a key figure in the Italian Radical movement — brought the discussion to bear on design.
Sottsass, an industrial designer, philosopher and provocateur, gathered a core group of young designers into a collective in 1980 they called Memphis. Members of the Memphis Group, which would come to include Martine Bedin, Michael Graves, Marco Zanini, Shiro Kuramata, Michele de Lucchi and Matteo Thun, saw design as a means of communication, and they wanted it to shout. That it did: The first Memphis collection appeared in 1981 in Milan and broke all the modernist taboos, embracing irony, kitsch, wild ornamentation and bad taste.
Memphis works remain icons of postmodernism: the Sottsass Casablanca bookcase, with its leopard-print plastic veneer; de Lucchi’s First chair, which has been described as having the look of an electronics component; Martine Bedin’s Super lamp: a pull-toy puppy on a power-cord leash. Even though it preceded the Memphis Group’s formal launch, Sottsass’s iconic Ultrafragola mirror — in its conspicuously curved plastic shell with radical pops of pink neon — proves striking in any space and embodies many of the collective’s postmodern ideals.
After the initial Memphis show caused an uproar, the postmodern movement within furniture and interior design quickly took off in America. (Memphis fell out of fashion when the Reagan era gave way to cool 1990’s minimalism.) The architect Robert Venturi had by then already begun a series of plywood chairs for Knoll Inc., with beefy, exaggerated silhouettes of traditional styles such as Queen Anne and Chippendale. In 1982, the new firm Swid Powell enlisted a group of top American architects, including Frank Gehry, Richard Meier, Stanley Tigerman and Venturi to create postmodern tableware in silver, ceramic and glass.
On 1stDibs, the vintage postmodern furniture collection includes chairs, coffee tables, sofas, decorative objects, table lamps and more.
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Style: Post-Modern
Be-Lieve Console Normal by Mingardo
Located in Geneve, CH
Be-Lieve Console Normal by Mingardo.
Dimensions: D110 x W50 x H80 cm.
Materials: Varnished iron structure and brass.
Weight: 60 kg.
Also available in different finishes and dimensions.
Decorative and, at the same time, essential, the enclosing console...
Category
2010s Italian Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Brass, Iron
Tlaloc Wine Cabinet by Andres Gutierrez
Located in Geneve, CH
Tlaloc Wine cabinet by Andres Gutierrez
Dimensions: D40 x W80 x H130 cm
Materials: Body: solid white oak wood, Legs: white oak plywood.
— Inspir...
Category
2010s Mexican Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Oak, Plywood
Italian Acerbis Modern Black Lacquer Sheraton Sideboard
By Acerbis
Located in Waxahachie, TX
Italian Postmodern glossy black lacquer "Sheraton" sideboard, designed by Giotto Stoppino (Italian, 1926-2011) and Lodovico Acerbis (Italian, b.1939) for Acerbis International, c.197...
Category
1980s Italian Vintage Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Wood, Lacquer
Black Curved Lace Bar by Mowee
Located in Geneve, CH
Black curved lace bar by MOWEE
Dimensions: D100 x W100 x H115 cm.
Material: Polyethylene and stainless steel.
Weight: 31 kg.
Also available in different colors and finishes (lacq...
Category
2010s Spanish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Stainless Steel, Other
White Curved Lace Bar by Mowee
Located in Geneve, CH
White curved lace bar by MOWEE
Dimensions: D100 x W100 x H115 cm.
Material: Polyethylene and stainless steel.
Weight: 31 kg.
Also available in different colors and finishes (lacq...
Category
2010s Spanish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Stainless Steel, Other
Black Straight Lace Bar by Mowee
Located in Geneve, CH
Black straight lace bar by Mowee.
Dimensions: D68 x W140 x H115 cm.
Material: Polyethylene and stainless steel.
Weight: 45 kg.
Also available in different colors and finishes (la...
Category
2010s Spanish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Stainless Steel, Other
Grey Curved Lace Bar by Mowee
Located in Geneve, CH
Grey curved lace bar by MOWEE
Dimensions: D100 x W100 x H115 cm.
Material: Polyethylene and stainless steel.
Weight: 31 kg.
Also available in different colors and finishes (lacqu...
Category
2010s Spanish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Other, Stainless Steel
White Straight Lace Bar by MOWEE
Located in Geneve, CH
White Straight Lace bar by MOWEE
Dimensions: D68 x W140 x H115 cm.
Material: Polyethylene and stainless steel.
Weight: 45 kg.
Also available in different colors and finishes (lac...
Category
2010s Spanish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Stainless Steel, Other
Cream Straight Lace Bar by MOWEE
Located in Geneve, CH
Cream Straight Lace bar by MOWEE
Dimensions: D68 x W140 x H115 cm.
Material: Polyethylene and stainless steel.
Weight: 45 kg.
Also available in different colors and finishes (lac...
Category
2010s Spanish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Stainless Steel, Other
Cream Curved Lace Bar by MOWEE
Located in Geneve, CH
Cream curved lace bar by MOWEE
Dimensions: D100 x W100 x H115 cm.
Material: Polyethylene and stainless steel.
Weight: 31 kg.
Also available in different colors and finishes (lacq...
Category
2010s Spanish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Stainless Steel, Other
Chocolate Curved Lace Bar by Mowee
Located in Geneve, CH
Chocolate curved Lace bar by Mowee
Dimensions: D 100 x W 100 x H 115 cm.
Material: Polyethylene and stainless steel.
Weight: 31 kg.
Also available in different colors and finishe...
Category
2010s Spanish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Stainless Steel, Other
Chocolate Straight Lace Bar by Mowee
Located in Geneve, CH
Chocolate straight lace bar by MOWEE
Dimensions: D68 x W140 x H115 cm.
Material: Polyethylene and stainless steel.
Weight: 45 kg.
Also available in different colors and finishes ...
Category
2010s Spanish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Stainless Steel, Other
Grey Straight Lace Bar by Mowee
Located in Geneve, CH
Grey straight lace bar by MOWEE
Dimensions: D68 x W140 x H115 cm.
Material: Polyethylene and stainless steel.
Weight: 45 kg.
Also available in different colors and finishes (lacq...
Category
2010s Spanish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Stainless Steel, Other
Burgundy Curved Lace Bar by MOWEE
Located in Geneve, CH
Burgundy curved Lace bar by MOWEE
Dimensions: D100 x W100 x H115 cm.
Material: Polyethylene and stainless steel.
Weight: 31 kg.
Also available in different colors and finishes (l...
Category
2010s Spanish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Stainless Steel, Other
Burgundy Straight Lace Bar by Mowee
Located in Geneve, CH
Burgundy straight Lace bar by Mowee
Dimensions: D 68 x W 140 x H 115 cm.
Material: Polyethylene and stainless steel.
Weight: 45 kg.
Also available in different colors and finishe...
Category
2010s Spanish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Stainless Steel, Other
Coatlicue Cabinet by Andres Gutierrez
Located in Geneve, CH
Coatlicue cabinet by Andres Gutierrez
Dimensions: D40 x W90 x H185 cm
Materials: Solid white oak wood.
— Inspired by the Aztec goddess of life and death, Coatlicue, ‘The One Who
Has A Serpent Skirt’—
Friendly shaped wood en representation of Coatlicue; The two headed goddess morphs into a striking solid white oak cabinet standing over six feet tall. The door handles represent the necklace made out of human hands and hearts that hangs around the goddess’neck in the Aztec monolith unearthed in 1790. The base of thec abinet represents Coatlicue’s sharp claws fringed by a skirt of snakes, her symbol for earth as both creator and destroyer.
This cabinet features four 40cm-deep shelves...
Category
2010s Mexican Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Oak
Taylor Console Table with 6 Drawers Left / Right by Domkapa
Located in Geneve, CH
Taylor Console table with 6 drawers left / right by Domkapa.
Dimensions: W 150 x D 50 x H 85 cm.
Materials: Moka lacquered matte, microfiber (Tarn 05).
Also available in different...
Category
2010s Portuguese Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Natural Fiber, Lacquer
Bucha Soberana by Cultivado em Casa
Located in Geneve, CH
Bucha Soberana by Cultivado em Casa
Materials: Luffa, wood
Dimensions: 80 x 45 x 175 cm
Luffa (known scientifically as luffa cynlindrica), a recurrent climbing plant in Brazilia...
Category
2010s Brazilian Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Wood
Yoma Console by Andy Kerstens
Located in Geneve, CH
Yoma Console by Andy Kerstens.
Limited Edition of 20
Dimensions: W 255 x D 70 x H 100 cm
Materials: Wood bleached and brushed European oak, solid + ve...
Category
2010s Belgian Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Stone, Metal
Thandi Tall Girl by TheUrbanative
Located in Geneve, CH
Thandi tall girl by TheUrbanative
Dimensions: W50 x L50 x H100 cm
Material: Kiaat, Ash and Powder coated, Powdercoated MDF
TheUrbanative is a contemporary South African furnitur...
Category
2010s South African Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Other
Vico Magistretti Black CS49 Samarcanda Black Chest of Drawers by Poggi 1970s
Located in Montecatini Terme, IT
Chest of drawers model CS49 with four frontal drawers and four doors revealing inner shelves with structure in black lacquered wood and top upholstered with black skai or faux leather.
Designed by Vico Magistretti and produced by Poggi in 1970s
Ludovico Magistretti was born in Milan on 6 October 1920. He went to Parini High School and in autumn 1939 enrolled in the Faculty of Architecture at the Royal Polytechnic in Milan.
After 8 September 1943, to avoid being deported to Germany, he left Italy during his military service and moved to Switzerland, where he took some academic courses at the Champ Universitaire Italien in Lausanne, taught at the local university.
During his stay in the Swiss city he met Ernesto Nathan Rogers, the founder of the BBPR firm who had taken refuge in Switzerland after racist laws were passed in Italy. This was a key encounter in Magistretti’s intellectual and professional development, since the architect from Trieste turned out to be his maestro.
He returned to Milan in 1945, where he graduated in Architecture at the Polytechnic on 2 August. He then immediately began his career working with the architect Paolo Chessa at the firm owned and run by his father, who died prematurely that same year.
Here, in his father’s small firm, he spent his entire career in partnership with Franco Montella.
During reconstruction operations in Milan from 1949-59, Magistretti designed and constructed about 14 projects for INA-Casa in conjunction with other architects.
He was involved with Mario Tedeschi in the joint project for the QT8 neighbourhood, designing houses for veterans from the African campaign and also Santa Maria Nascente Church.
In 1946 he participated in the R.I.M.A. exhibition (Italian Assembly for Furniture Exhibitions), held at the Palazzo dell’Arte, designing some small almost self-made pieces of furniture and then, in 1947 and 1948, he took part together with Castiglioni, Zanuso, Gardella, Albini and others in the exhibitions organized by Fede Cheti, a furniture fabric maker, held at her own workshop.
The young architect was involved in plenty of activities and came up with lots of new ideas and proposals in the 1950s.
Over the following years he also designed a number of other important projects, including the Towers in piazzale Aquileia (1961-64), Bassetti House in Azzate (1960-62), Cassina House in Carimate (1964-65), and the house in via Conservatorio in Milan (1963-66).
In 1956 he was one of the founding members of the ADI, Industrial Design Association, and during the same year he was a member of the panel of judges for the Golden Compass Award for the first time.
His work as an architect was almost totally focused on the issue of housing and living from the 1960s onwards, as he developed his own extremely expressive idiom, which, even though it was heavily criticised at times, made a real impression on the architectural scene in Lombardy during that period, making him one of its leading figures.
This is the context in which he took part in the CIAM Congress (International Modern Architecture Congress) held in Otterlo in the Netherlands in 1959, during which the Italians presented Velasca Tower designed by the BBPR, the Olivetti canteen designed by Ignazio Gardella, Arosio house designed by Vico Magistretti (1956-59), and the houses in Matera designed by Giancarlo De Carli...
Category
1970s Italian Vintage Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Faux Leather, Wood
Object 027 Cabinet by NG Design
Located in Geneve, CH
Object 027 cabinet by NG design
Dimensions: D115 x W50 x H76 cm
Materials: Powder coated steel, Tempered Glass.
Also Available: All of objects available in different materials and colors on demand.
The "object027" chest of drawers is the continuation of our fun with glass. The twin dimensions of "object001" and "object002...
Category
2010s Polish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Steel
Object 033 Cabinet by NG Design
Located in Geneve, CH
Object 033 Cabinet by NG Design
Dimensions: D65 x W34 x H149 cm
Materials: Powder coated steel, Tempered Glass
Also Available: All of objects available in different materials an...
Category
2010s Polish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Steel
Object 029 Cabinet by NG Design
Located in Geneve, CH
Object 029 Cabinet by NG Design
Dimensions: D50 x W27x H80 cm
Materials: Powder coated steel, Tempered Glass.
Also Available: All of objects available i...
Category
2010s Polish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Steel
Object 021 Cabinet by Ng Design
Located in Geneve, CH
Object 021 cabinet by NG Design
Dimensions: D66 x W38 x H120 cm
Materials: Powder coated steel, Tempered Glass.
Also Available: All of objects available in different materials a...
Category
2010s Polish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Steel
Object 028 Cabinet by NG Design
Located in Geneve, CH
Object 028 Cabinet by NG Design
Dimensions: D50 x W27 x H80 cm
Materials: Powder coated steel, Tempered Glass.
Also Available: All of objects available in different materials an...
Category
2010s Polish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Steel
Pivot Sideboard by SEM
Located in Geneve, CH
Pivot sideboard by SEM
Dimensions: W200 x D38 x H52.2 cm
Material: metallic tubolar structure, pivoting doors in surface in antique brass or patinas, Shel...
Category
2010s Italian Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Metal, Brass
Object 023 TV Cabinet by NG Design
Located in Geneve, CH
Object 023 TV cabinet by NG Design
Dimensions: D 160 x W 46 x H 56 cm
Materials: Powder coated steel, tempered glass.
Also Available: All of objects available in different mater...
Category
2010s Polish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Steel
Object 022 Cabinet by NG Design
Located in Geneve, CH
Object 022 Cabinet by NG Design
Dimensions: D66 x W38 x H120 cm
Materials: Powder coated steel, Tempered Glass.
Also Available: All of objects available in different materials a...
Category
2010s Polish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Steel
Pivot Angular Console by SEM
Located in Geneve, CH
Pivot Angular console by SEM
Dimensions: W150 x D57 x H72 cm
Material:Metallic tubolar structure, Pivoting doors in surface in antique brass or patinas, S...
Category
2010s Italian Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Metal, Brass
Object 024 TV Cabinet by NG Design
Located in Geneve, CH
Object 023 TV cabinet by NG Design
Dimensions: D160 x W46 x H56 cm
Materials: Powder coated steel, Tempered Glass.
Also Available: All of objects available in different material...
Category
2010s Polish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Steel
Object 030 Cabinet by NG Design
Located in Geneve, CH
Object 030 cabinet by NG Design
Dimensions: D 50 x W 27x H 80 cm
Materials: Powder coated steel.
Also Available: All of objects available in different materials and colors on de...
Category
2010s Polish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Steel
Object 001 Cabinet by NG Design
Located in Geneve, CH
Object 001 cabinet by NG Design
Dimensions: D 115 x W 50 x H 76 cm.
Materials: powder coated steel.
Also available: All of objects available in different materials and colors on...
Category
2010s Polish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Steel
Object 002 Cabinet by NG Design
Located in Geneve, CH
Object 002 cabinet by NG Design
Dimensions: D115 x W50 x H76 cm
Materials: Powder coated steel.
Also Available: All of objects available in different m...
Category
2010s Polish Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Steel
Be-Lieve Console Extra by Mingardo
Located in Geneve, CH
Be-Lieve console extra by Mingardo
Dimensions: D153 x W55 x H80 cm
Materials: Varnished iron structure and brass
Weight: 90 kg
Also Available in different finishes and dimensions.
Decorative and at the same time essential, the enclosing console...
Category
2010s Italian Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Brass, Iron
Atang Tshikare designed Soil Cabinet Sculpture with Wooden Legs
Located in Cape Town, WC
Legae is a Tswana word for home. It is based on vernacular architecture using local customs, layering techniques that have passed on from generation to generation. The biomorphic sha...
Category
2010s South African Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Other
"D'Antibes" Cabinet by George Sowden
Located in Brooklyn, NY
The "D'Antibes" cabinet was designed by George Sowden (UK), one of the early members of the Memphis collective and husband to Nathalie du Pasquier (thus explaining her influence, vis-a-vis the silkscreened decorations on the cabinet's sides.
George early on thought of it as a medicine cabinet, an apothecary vitrine or just a small bookcase.
In my first great apartment on the Detroit River, it was my towel...
Category
1980s Italian Vintage Post-Modern Cupboards
Materials
Wood
Post-modern cupboards for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a broad range of unique Post-Modern cupboards for sale on 1stDibs. Many of these items were first offered in the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artisans have continued to produce works inspired by this style. If you’re looking to add vintage cupboards created in this style to your space, the works available on 1stDibs include case pieces and storage cabinets, tables, folk art and other home furnishings, frequently crafted with metal, other and other materials. If you’re shopping for used Post-Modern cupboards made in a specific country, there are Europe, Spain, and Poland pieces for sale on 1stDibs. While there are many designers and brands associated with original cupboards, popular names associated with this style include Acerbis, American of Martinsville, George Sowden, and Poggi. It’s true that these talented designers have at times inspired knockoffs, but our experienced specialists have partnered with only top vetted sellers to offer authentic pieces that come with a buyer protection guarantee. Prices for cupboards differ depending upon multiple factors, including designer, materials, construction methods, condition and provenance. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $1,043 and tops out at $176,085 while the average work can sell for $2,195.
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