Old History Of Modern Furniture

It was in the 19th century after the industrial revolution had given birth to a new class of people that

futuristic ideas evolved. The traditional dark, gilded or carved wood, covered with heavy richly patterned

fabrics gave way to light and simple looking furniture. Between the decency and the down trodden poor the middle

class had emerged. They cast aside anything that was related to the rich who had trampled the poor ruthlessly.

Also influences from Africa, Asia and particularly Japan had a lasting effect on designing of modern furniture.

Functionality, practicality and economic viability were the new order in furniture. Technology and industrial

development were already playing their role in making of simplistic yet useful furniture.

Michael Thonet an Austrian German cabinet maker was the first to experiment in making bent wood furniture and

using glue for joining wood pieces. His coffee shop chair also known as 'Konsumstuhl Nr 14' became world famous

and till 1930 over 50 million of these chairs were produced. Another famous chair of that era was the 'Tripolina

chair'. It was made of wood, metal and canvas and was patented by Joseph Fendy in 1877. This chair was broadly

used by the British troops during the colonial era. The director's chair is a simple folding chair that uses a

scissor action to fold and is made of wood and canvas, or any other strong material that can bear the weight of

the occupant. The design of this chair dates back to the 15th century and the design has been taken from ancient

Roman folding stools.

A number of of the iconic examples of modern furniture are the Marcel Breur's Wassily chair. This chair uses

lightweight tubular steel and leather straps. The exquisite and simplistic design of these geometric shaped

planes almost makes the leather straps appear to be suspended in space. The Ellen Gray side table, the Barcelona

chair and Noguchi table are some of the other icons of modern furniture.

Modern furniture is functional, practical and tastefully designed to give a feeling of luxury and lightness. It

differs entirely from the dark and heavily embroidered medieval furniture. Metals, plastics, glass are now used

along with wood in making modern furniture and a whole new generation of fabrics and colors are used. The

fabrics used are of bold and bright colors which make modern furniture look inviting and artistic. Modern

furniture has taken many forms and shapes and furniture designers use geometric patterns to create modern

furniture.

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