FurnitureModern.com retails and wholesales clean, sleek, chic contemporary furniture with modern style. Today, modern furniture takes on all sorts of shapes and sizes, and many furniture manufacturers create their own ideas. We would like to summarize a brief history of contemporary furniture; after all, this is our specialty. Before you read on, you may want to visit  our various products like contemporary bedroom furniture, modern dining furniture, entertainment center, modern decor, and much more.

Contemporary furniture or modern furniture as we know them today, evolved through Art Deco and eventually through Modernism after World War I as the rise of industry and technology brought about radical changes in society that were reflected in modern design.

Originating in France, Art Deco was somewhat the birth of Modernism, although Art Deco was founded on tradition, while Modernism was functionalism. However, as imagination and designs of fantasy evolved, new materials were utilized and new luxury and glamour was seen in French style and in streamlined American mode; alongside Bauhaus, Art Deco was the real beginning of modernism and contemporary furniture.

Modernist Bauhaus style prevailed in Germany during the 1920’s and 1930’s, but it was the Netherlands that first applied the concept of abstraction to furniture design, much acclaimed to the De Stijl Group. True commitment to modern furniture design was done by the Germans, in which the Bauhaus became the most important design school of the modern era; students and staff of the Bauhaus school instigated a new approach to design that was mimicked, with varying degrees of success, the world over; but it was probably Dutchman Gerrit Rietveld who was the most influential designers of the 20th century, while Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was one of the modern era’s best known designers and architects.

As new elements of style emerged, the skills of hand-craftsman became increasingly important. Tubular steel, plywood and aluminum materials were used on the chaise lounges, while steel, chrome and stained woods were used in modern contemporary desks. This was the time when the structures of the furniture were exposed, utilizing geometric forms, cantilevering, curvaceous lines, and plywood bending.

World War II halted the development of furniture design, but after the war, through the birth of mid-century modern furniture significant changes occurred from newly available manufacturing techniques, and the processes of aluminum casting and innovative ways of bonding wood. In the 1950’s plastics and foam padding were introduced to furniture designs. Modernism was further taken away from the its rationalist roots as new colors and forms dictated new designs.

This new trend was most marked in Italy where designers such as Gio Ponti and Carlo di Carli added sensual elements to furniture design; while the United States was definitely not the forefront in furniture design during this era, there was a strong modern movement in America. Although Scandinavian design soared, it was only the second generation of Scandinavian designer that begun to make their mark as their work is distinguished by svelte forms and experimentation with new materials. Most notably, these second generation designers were categorized as industrial designers as the importance of hand crafting was diminished.

Postmodern and contemporary furniture design came firmly into focus in the 1980’s. The Vitra Design Museum opened in 1989, and its collection is almost entirely made up of 20th Century objects.  Almost at the same time, in July 1989, Terence Conran's Design Museum opened in Butlers Wharf. The Design Museum was the first in the world to be dedicated to the promotion and examination of design.

The greatest break-thru in modern furniture design was realized in the 1990’s when computers became an essential tool for many designers, who could develop their work on screen with ease, rather than drawing up designs and making models.

Contemporary furniture belong to the present time, they are characteristic of the present, therefore we must assume that contemporary furniture will live on forever!