Side Table Eileen Gray
This height-adjustable table from 1927 is one of Eileen
Gray’s most rational designs and reflects her desire for
functional perfection. Originally conceived as a bedside
table for the guest room in Gray’s famous E. 1027 house
in Cap Martin (her sister was fond of breakfast in bed),
it is also useful as a side table in living rooms, office
reception areas or on the terrace. Its purist aesthetic
complements a wide range of furnishings and settings.
$170 at EuropeByNet, $199 at SteelClassic, $285 at ThisIsFurniture.com, $395 at DWR, $190 at BauhausShop.com, $273 at EurStyle.com. $750 (!) at MoMA.
Lounge Chair Eames
Charles and Ray Eames conceived of this exceptionally comfortable chair as the 20th-century American answer to the Edwardian English Club Chair. The Lounge Chair stands out among their work for its unapologetic luxury and the level of handcraft required in its execution.
Charles Eames' aspirations for the chair were less lofty. He wanted it to have "the warm receptive look of a well used first baseman's mitt."
The first lounge chair, produced in 1956, was a birthday gift for friend Billy Wilder, the Academy Award-winning film director. Every lounge chair and accompanying ottoman manufactured since then has received the same meticulous handcrafted attention. Every one is a handsome refuge from the strains of modern living.
Probably the most widely recognized of all the Eames' furniture designs, the Eames lounge chair occupies a favored place in thousands of living rooms, studies, libraries, and dens, as well as in the permanent collection of New York's Museum of Modern Art.
$1790 at SteelClassic, $1400 at DWR.
Walnut Stool Eames
Perfectly self-contained objects of beauty, these solid walnut stools can act as a low table or a simple seat; hold a stack of books or coffee cups; live in modern or traditional surroundings. Charles and Ray Eames first designed the stools in 1960 for the lobby of the Time Life Building in New York City, but they soon became popular products and with time, one of the more charming classics of modern design. Today, these finely crafted lathe-turned pieces bring an animated personality to the office, home or commercial space.
$780 at DWR
Ribbon Vase Peter Hewitt
Designed for MoMA by Peter Hewitt, this vase may have an unfair advantage in its battle against the blossoms for attention. Competition aside, the anodized aluminum bands between panes of thick, plate glass provide the perfect, man-made complement to the natural miracle of a flower
$85 at MoMA.
Berenice Alberto Meda and Paolo Rizzato
Designed by two bright stars of Italian design, the Berenice is one of the most sophisticated task lights ever made. It epitomizes the modern design aesthetic, distilling form and function to their poetic essence. Equipped with a low-voltage transformer, the Berenice requires no wiring: the rods that form its lamp arm safely serve as electrical conductors. Despite its diminutive base, it affords 315 degrees of movement, and its strong halogen light can be projected in almost any direction.
Cortina Pablo Pardo
Defined by a structural and material simplicity, the Cortina Table Lamp and Floor Lamp (2000) by Pablo Pardo simultaneously contain and diffuse light. The compact polycarbonate shade is virtually architectural, a thin rectangle of transparency that delineates the form and filters light through an external fabric diffuser, which is stretched over the top, down to the base. The floor lamp may be tucked beside a sofa, or placed in a corner, being well suited to today’s versatile environments in which efficiency of space and versatility are key, while the table lamp provides unique secondary lighting on a bedside table or reception desk
$280 at DWR.
Bench, 1946 Nelson
George Nelson's Slat Bench is one of the great icons of mid-century modernism. For Herman Miller's influential design director, utility was as important as beauty. His spare rectangular bench is proof. It serves equally well as table, platform base or seating, depending on need and situation. No wonder it's been called timeless, something this functional never dates.
Introduced in 1946 as part of George Nelson's first collection for Herman Miller, the platform bench, like many of his designs, has clean, rectilinear lines, reflecting Nelson's architectural background and his insistence on "honest" design.
As presented in the 1948 Herman Miller furniture catalog, "The platform bench is primarily a high base for deep and shallow cases, but it also serves as a low table for extra seating."
However it's used, the handsome platform bench sits well in living rooms, vestibules, libraries with or without people or stereos or artwork on it. Its slats, spaced so that air and light pass through, are finished maple; the legs are finger-jointed for superior strength.
In 1945, Nelson designed the Storagewall, the first modular storage system and a forerunner of systems furniture. The Storagewall was showcased in a Life magazine article, causing a sensation in the furniture industry.
Herman Miller founder D.J. DePree saw the article and was so impressed that he paid a visit to Nelson in New York and convinced him to be his director of design. This spurred Nelson to found his design firm, George Nelson & Associates.
The warm personal and professional relationship between Nelson and DePree yielded a stunning range of products, from the playful marshmallow sofa to the first L-shaped desk, a precursor of today's workstation. It also yielded the platform bench.
Nelson once wrote that Herman Miller "is not playing follow-the-leader." That's one reason why George Nelson & Associates worked with Herman Miller for over 25 years as they shepherded design into the modern era
$399 at SteelClassic, $640 at DWR