Blame the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte for influencing the rise of modern furniture in the world. The story goes that when Napoleon crowned himself emperor in 1804, he ushered in the era of “empire style” furniture—ultra majestic, ostentatious, extravagant and self-aggrandizing.
“Empire style” furniture and its attendant excesses reflected Napoleon’s world-conquering personality. Spoils and artifacts from Egypt, Greece and Roman served as the bases for European craftsmen and artists to create a grandiloquent and aggressive French equivalent.
Furniture during Napoleon’s era was huge in every way. Stolid, loud and bombastic, “empire style” furniture was also heavy and carried a chauvinistic tone when compared to the décor of Louis XIV and Louis XV. Metal gilt replaced wood. Gold was the new standard.
Ormolu mounts were the single most distinguishing feature. Ormolu is a gold-colored alloy made of copper, zinc, tin, then topped with a gold and mercury mixture. These gilt-metal ornaments carried the influences of Roman, Greek, and Egyptian excess in the form of ram’s heads, cobras, obelisks, falcons, winged-lion supports, sphinxes, palm leaves, gods and cornucopias. Other characteristics of this type of furniture were the liberal use of classic Greco-Roman decals, mirror-back console tables and military motifs featuring the letter “N” for you-know-who.
Empire furniture fell out of favor once Napoleon was defeated in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. These symbols of excess would soon be replaced by more sensible home furniture pieces. Modernism was changing European art, literature, architecture and music by the late 19th century up to the turn of the century.
Modern furniture was an about-face from the jarring ornament-oriented pieces of the early 19th century. It was a revolution in furniture design, emphasizing function and accessibility over form. Traditional design elements were stripped or rejected outright. Innovation was driving the movement, combing elements of Japanese art, Bauhaus, Symbolism, and Art Nouveau. The thinking was to break from past conventions and attempt to create something new, vibrant and colorful.
That philosophy translated to light, clear, geometric lines replacing dark, burdensome and cluttered woodcarvings. Steel, molded plywood and soon, plastic became the new materials of choice. Applying furniture design to these materials was quite a radical approach during those times when furniture basically meant wood.
The Marcel Breuer-designed Wassily Chair in the mid-1920s is an icon of modern furniture. It was the first tubular steel chair and inspired by the tube frame and handlebars of a bicycle. The materials used were revolutionary for its time: bent tubular steel, chrome plating, cowhide leather upholstery and canvas straps in black, green, blue and red. The Wassily Chair also benefited from the perfection in the manufacture of seamless steel tubes, which, prior to this new process, would collapse when bent. Since 1948, Knoll International is the U.S. licensee and producer of Wassily chairs.
Designer Eileen Gray’s Bibendum Chair was also created during the same time as the Wassily Chair. This lounging chair captured the non-conformist, modern aesthetic of the times with its two half-circle stacked tubes comprising its back and arm rests. Not surprisingly, Gray derived its name from the roly-poly Michelin Man’s stacked tire appearance.
The Barcelona chair and The Brno Chair, designed by German architect Ludwig Mies van de Rohe in 1930, crystallized the functional art aesthetic of the Bauhaus school. Architect Mies’ style strove for simplicity, minimal structural order and clarity. His “less is more” approach also emphasized modern industrial materials such as glass and steel.
The ancient Egyptian’s folding chairs and Roman footstools inspired the Barcelona chair. The smooth-looking stainless steel chair originally used ivory pigskin before being replaced by cow leather and chrome. Knoll holds the exclusive manufacturing rights and each chair is practically hand crafted.
The Brno cantilever (no back legs) chair is also a modern furniture symbol that has become a standard in conference rooms. The secret of its simplicity lies in the single C-shaped steel frame shaped past the seat’s front edge that continues back under the seat. This creates a cantilever structure that relies on the strength of the tubular steel for support.
After World War II, the husband and wife team of Charles and Ray Eames introduced a boldly innovative lounge chair composed of molded curved plywood. The Eames lounge chair wood was entered into a 1940 Museum of Modern Art competition on organic furniture design. Herman Miller became their partner in producing these practical, comfortable and affordable organic chairs. The chair was to be a backrest and seat that seamlessly merged into a single shell. However the practicality of bending plywood required the design to become two separate pieces joined by a plywood lumbar support. Shock mounts (rubber washers) were attached under the seat and backrest and screwed to the plywood lumbar support.
This breakthrough was followed by a series of successful organically shaped designs such as La Chaise in 1948, the soft compact in 1954, lounge chair and ottoman in 1956 and the aluminum group chairs in 1958.
In 1948 Japanese American sculptor Isamu Noguchi combined wood and glass into a simply graceful, all-revealing table that captured the imagination of America. “Everything is sculpture,” he once said. His task was to give space shape and order, merging art with its present table.
The Noguchi table was the epitome of functional sculpture. It is form and function; sculpture and furniture. The table consisted of three pieces: two curved interlocking solid wood legs created a tripod to support a slab of ¾ inch transparent plate glass. The manufacturer Herman Miller authenticates each table with a medallion and Noguchi’s initials stamped on the underside of the table’s base.
These cultural icons were considered wildly radical during their time but still hold up very well today. They will never go out of style. They are distinct, unmistakable and have imparted their influence in succeeding generations of designers.
Today, there is no clear differentiation between modern furniture and contemporary furniture. Some argue that modern furniture is sleek, with clean lines and an industrial feel with plenty of glass, metal, plastic and wood. Visually, the furniture looks light. Contemporary is current furniture, with a homier feel. They emphasize shape, space and color. But how the furniture is set against the environment is also an important determining factor.
But semantics aside, one thing is certain: placing modern furniture inside the home will give it flair of sophistication. It grabs people’s attention, becomes a point of discussion and admiration, and is personally gratifying to the owner.
Modern furniture makes your room alive. But they also require careful selection. The primary considerations must still be comfort, price and suitability.
The composition of modern furniture may look uncomfortable at first glance. It may also not be compatible with the shape of the room or the color of the walls. Basic colors such as black, white and silver reflect the best modern feel. More daring colors like neon green, orange and yellow are acceptable as long as they match the walls and colors of the room.
A safe approach is to choose one signature piece such as a modern sofa set for the living room and add from there. The shape of the room and the furniture will show the design direction, and what other pieces are to be added. Chairs and tables can be grouped towards the sofa set, for example. Modern furniture can easily be matched. The 1999 Alfa sofa, designed by Emaf Progetti will fit easily with a Barcelona chair because it conveys clear, simple lines and chrome plated steel leg supports.
