How to be a modernist in five iconic pieces

Five landmark designs that illustrate the continuing influence of modernism on today’s design landscape.

1. Noguchi coffee table. Courtesy Herman Miller

By any interpretation, modernism is not modern at all – or at least not contemporary.

With its roots in the build-up to and aftermath of the First World War, when the disenchanted Europeans who had survived threw off the fuss and frills of the era that took them to war, modernism emerged in part to wipe the slate clean.

As a movement, it has been succeeded by the world of postmodernism, where nothing was quite what it seemed, and then the varied attempts at post-structuralism and deconstruction that allowed academics and philosophers to write impenetrable essays about how hard it is to exist.

Through all of this wrangling with “the self”, the output of modernism not only survived, but also established itself in the contemporary culture of more than one generation. Architects and designers who could be called modernists, from Eileen Gray to the Eameses, may not necessarily be household names, but much like Renaissance paintings from old masters, their work is recognised as familiar by far more people than those who actually know who those behind the pieces are.

It can’t be easy to carry the label “icon” through the centuries, but there’s a core collection of pieces that are doing just that. Some could be accused of being overfamiliar, but the price of fame, in design at least, is knock-offs and much of what is recognised are copies and imitations, and not necessarily the real thing.

We’ve picked out five landmark designs that illustrate the continuing influence of modernism in design – and for which the real thing can be sourced through manufacturers licensed to make the originals, or for the very thorough, through vintage furniture auctions.

1. Noguchi coffee table, 1939

Three pieces – two wood and one glass – are combined to create a piece of furniture that looks like it may have washed up on a very sophisticated beach. Designed by Isamu Noguchi, an American with a Japanese father, it’s a product that demonstrates its origins at the hands of a man who was a sculptor above all else. The design has its origins in a 1939 sample created for a furniture designer, who took advantage of Noguchi’s internment during the Second World War to create knock-offs. Noguchi recreated his own design, and it was introduced to Herman Miller catalogues in 1948. Buyers of current makes have a choice of walnut, ebony or cherry for the base, with the top always an ­organic-shaped slab of glass. Those who like a vintage piece may have more luck with this item than any other on the list, thanks to a decades-long production run of the original.

The real thing: www.hermanmiller.com

2. Barcelona chair, 1929

This is the unavoidable granddaddy of them all, a chair design more recognisable than any other before or since, and a piece that has been knocked off, ripped off and reinterpreted more times than any other. It was created by the starchitect of the 1920 and 1930s, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and the ­lesser-known Lilly Reich, for the German pavilion at Barcelona’s 1929 International Exposition – you’ll know the event as an Expo. It’s a deceptively simple combination of cantilevered steel frame and leather cushions offering a loose assemblage of generous proportions, without the constraint of arms. This is a fact that keeps these vintage pieces appealing, given that contemporaneous armchairs from similarly classic designers – particularly Le Corbusier’s club chair – are quite snug by today’s standards. It suffers more than any other from overuse, especially in corporate lobbies, but it may be the most recognisable chair design of all time.

The real thing: www.knoll.com

3. Eileen Gray E1027 side table, 1927

There’s a bare-bones look to modernist design that makes it easy to spot. Chrome-plated steel is a feature of a design philosophy that made it its mission to pare away any decoration that didn’t serve a purpose. As well as being seen on the Barcelona chair, chrome plating is the most marked feature of the Eileen Gray E1027 side tables in production today. Originals are rare, with the table’s mass production a more recent phenomenon for a design penned in 1927. The Irish-born architect Gray created it as part of her work on a villa in southern France, with the same alphanumeric moniker, and it only really went into mass production after her death in 1976. With a glass top and easily adjustable height, it can slip under and alongside you on a sofa or in bed, giving it versatility to go with its classic heritage. Its influence can be seen in some designs of the 1980s, but don’t let that put you off; this is a stone-cold ­classic.

The real thing: www.classicon.com

4. AJ table lamp, 1960

The AJ table lamp is definitely late in the modernist sense, and there will be those that will argue with its inclusion here, but it symbolises where modernism led, and offers a chance to recognise the contribution of its architect designer, Arne Jacobsen. The Dane was well established – he was teaching – by the time he created this lamp as part of a suite of designs for the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, in 1960. Most will more easily recognise his Ant and Swan chairs, but the simple functionality of the lamp has given it a lasting appeal. Current models feature steel shades and a zinc base; where the round void was originally intended to hold an ashtray, it’s now seen as a decorative feature of a classic of Danish design.

The real thing: www.louis­poulsen.com

5. Eames desk unit, 1950

The Eameses were a husband-and-wife duo – Charles and Ray – who helped to make plywood famous with work that exhibits a great sense of fun. The Eames desk unit may not be as famous as the couple’s 670 lounge chair design, or even as well known as the desk designs of their contemporary George Nelson – he of Marshmallow sofa fame – but it shows off the fun side of their work. The more colourful versions look a little like the paintings of Piet Mondrian in 3-D, with bold, simple blocks of colour contrasting with zinc or black frames and plain birch tops. For a design created 65 years ago, it wouldn’t look out of place on the drawing board or CAD screen of a designer today.

The real thing: www.vitra.com

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