Residential design in the 1940s was heavily influenced by World War II, when production of furniture and home décor concentrated on comfort, familiarity and cost-consciousness. In Europe, designers found themselves either vilified by fascist governments or exiled by fear for their lives. Many disappeared into the labor camps or were lost in military service. In the United States, war supply production took precedence over domestic goods, and people learned to make do with the furniture they'd acquired before the war or renovate on tight budgets.
Post-WWII Design Innovation
Once the war ended, economies in the emerging West were struggling. Design, however, took a dramatic surge forward in celebration of the future and a break with the past. Many European designers, architects, and artists joined with manufacturers to awaken the second half of the century with bold colors, simplified lines, imaginative shapes and creative uses for "space-age" materials.
In the United States, some of the most well-known Bauhaus designers and artists had taken refuge from the war, and were now among the leaders of the new "Modern" movement. Other American designers and artists found a ready market among the young veterans beginning their families and buying their first homes. The buzzwords became the Cold War, the Space Age, and Madison Avenue.
Among the newly popular and sometimes, newly invented, materials featured by the 1950s designers were tubular steel, plastics, glass, fiberglass, wood veneers and softwoods. Manufacturing techniques devised during wartime could take these materials and bend, shape, form and mold them into amazing creations. Mass production was made easier with cheaper labor and supplies at war's end and as the 1950s progressed. Imports from Scandinavia, Israel, and Japan rapidly arrived on US markets to compete aggressively with domestic manufacturers, although one of the most recognizable "import" names, Dansk, was actually a US company.
Meeting the Competition
Familiar retailers and manufacturers of the 1920s and 1930s, such as Herman Miller, sought to reinvent themselves to meet the competition and advance American designers as world leaders. "Herman Miller began in 1923 as a manufacturer of traditional residential furniture, became a leader in 'modern' furniture in the 1930s and 1940s; developed lasting ties through the 1950s with legendary industrial designers who led us in new directions," according to Hermanmiller.com ("Where Wè've Been"). Among the designers they fostered were Charles and Ray Eames. The Eames husband and wife team pioneered innovative technologies, such as the fiberglass, plastic resin chairs and the wire mesh chairs designed for Herman Miller.
Color exploded in exciting ways with pinks, purples, olive green, aqua and black dominating the housewares of the day. These colors were not taken from nature as much as they were a result of the chemical qualities of plastics and petroleum products used so extensively. In fact, unless the "natural" was made into abstract form, there was little of nature to be seen in the typical home.
Mid-Century Modern Remains Popular
Collecting vintage mid-century modern furniture, ceramics, housewares, art and other collectibles is one of the most popular and exciting niches among collectors. Because of their clean, simple and graceful lines, most 1950s, 1960s and 1970s furniture remains contemporary in look, while the materials have survived fairly well. Recovering faded or worn upholstery is not a problem since retro and vintage fabric is being reproduced in updated materials.
Websites and scores of books are available covering toys, dolls, model cars, Christmas and Halloween decorations, furniture, dinnerware, jewelry, clothing and textiles, architecture and art from 1949 through 1969. There are probably hundreds of antiques dealers' web sites which specialize in mid-century collectibles.
Sources:
- GoMod.com
- Modhaus.com
