Mid-Century Mayhem
After watching the Antiques Roadshow on Sunday and seeing that fantastic Hans Wegner chair get an estimate of £3000, it seems that the love of mid century modern and retro furniture just goes from strength to strength.
This post war era was an amazing time for furniture and interior design. New materials like vinyl, rubber and plywood were being used, and the days of having a house furnished with stuff handed down from your parents was well and truly over. With influence from America, young home owners were after a more functional, funky interior and so brown furniture slowly went out of fashion. Fitted kitchens with formica worktops, and more affordable white goods were highly desirable.
With this new era of interior design came iconic furniture design ustilising the new materials available. The clean lines of this era are what makes it so desirable now. The Wegner chair (left) is a case in point. If you didn't know, you would probably think this was recently produced and it wouldn't look out of place in any contemporary space. There was also huge influence from Scandinavia
during this period and the popularity of this style has yet to fade. One designer in particular, Svend Madsen, produced some monumental furniture including this stunning rosewood desk (right) in the late 50's. Following the new designs of the 1950's, British designer Ercol, created the iconic 'Windsor' collection which is still in production today.
This collection included the beautiful Windsor Studio Couch Day Bed (pictured) and later the Pandora's Box coffee table. So how can you integrate this style into your home? If the £3000 chair is beyond your price range, British Mid-Century design is probably the best way to achieve the look on a lower budget. Ercol, G-plan and Parker Knoll all designed furniture during this period in teak, elm and mahogany. These can be acquired for reasonable prices online, or in reclamation yards like ours.
You don't need to have an entire house full of this type of furniture either, as it seems to blend in with all periods and actually looks more spectacular as a singular piece. For example, an Ercol dining table and chairs looks lovely without the sideboard and nest of tables. To be honest I like the whole lot, but you can start small and build up knowing that your look does not appear unfinished until your entire living room is a catalogue for Ercol originals.
If you want to have the look, but more up to date, this type of furniture looks great painted.
A lick of paint can also hide blemishes and scratches which cost too much to remove through professional restoration. Also, if you get bored with the colour, you can just paint it again! New furniture for the price of a tin of paint.
If you want to maintain a certain contemporary feel, modern fabics can be used to cover seat pads, chair backs or for cushions. In this way you can be authentic without being a slave to the period.
You can also add a few genuine retro accessories such as this hat stand or a piece of glassware, or lighting.
Again, you can pick up some real bargains online, in reclamation yards or junk shops. This will tie the look together and create a genuine retro feel to your home without it appearing to be a flash back to the 1951 Festival of Britain.
So anyway, although genuine Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian antiques will always have a special place in our hearts, this recent love affair with design from the 1950's and 60's is definitely not a flash in the pan. Grab your bargains while you can! Happy hunting x
- 23rd April 2015
