Mid Century Modern Design

Most people don't see value in what they grew up with. "That old thing?" is the most common refrain heard. Thus, people in their 50's don't value the 1960's, 40's don't value the 70's, and so on. Whenever we were all teenagers, we looked suspiciously at what our parents had around. If they found it stylish, then heaven forbid! 


Thus I run into clients all the time that think value with vintage starts around 1939. Anything pre World War II. People seem to be shocked that the 1950's & 60's are considered to be one the design pillars of the twentieth century. Let's look at some examples of Mid Century Modern and their attributes: 

Natural material, organic shape, strong visually. Mortle & Pestle by bitofbutter

Mid Century design is about clean, geometric and organic lines. While pieces can command very high prices in urban areas like San Francisco, the web is the main area now to find the best pieces-simply because many sellers don't realize what they have and steals can be found.

Strong lines, organic shape, natural material. Swedish Modern Cat by mascarajones

From Wikipedia: "Scandinavian design was very influential at this time, with a style characterized by simplicity, democratic design and natural shapes. Glassware (Iittala - Finland), ceramics (Arabia - Finland), tableware (George Jensen - Denmark), lighting, and furniture were some of the genres products' were created in."

Strong, natural, organic shapes. Pair of teak swans by ModishVintage

If you have a mid century modern piece, be sure to photograph it in front of a simple background so that the lines of your piece can stand out.

Natural material, elongated geometric shape. Atomic Mid Century Carafe by TheVintageWhim

Search on Etsy.com under: Danish, Swedish, Scandanavian, Mid Century, Mid Century Modern or by specific artist names like Lisa Larson.