Set of Four 1950s "Jason" Festival of Britain Chairs by Carl Jacobs for Kandya
By Carl Jacobs, Kandya
Located in Shepperton, Surrey
A set of four iconic 1950s "Jason" dining chairs in pale blue by Carl Jacobs for Kandya. A design classic, the Jason chair is held in MoMA, the V&A and other prestigious collections...
Beech, Plywood
Unavailable
H 29.53 in W 18.51 in D 19.3 in
Set of Four Modernist English 1960s Bent Ply and Beech Chairs
Located in London, GB
English, 1960s A stylish set of four modernist, interlocking, chairs. Made from plywood and beech. In very good condition.
Beech, Plywood
Unavailable
H 31.89 in W 18.51 in D 23.63 in
Pair of Midcentury 'Antelope' Chairs by Ernest Race, England, circa 1950
By Race Furniture, Ernest Race
Located in London, GB
Pair of original antelope chairs designed by Ernest Race for the Festival of Britain in 1951.
Metal
Unavailable
H 29.53 in W 19.69 in D 16.93 in
Exceptionally Rare Set of 6 Robin Day Hillestak Chairs, 1950s
By Robin Day
Located in Sofia, BG
Very rare to find set of six Hillestak chairs by the great English designer Robin Day, made in the distant 1950s. The chairs have beech structure and plywood for the part of the back...
Faux Leather, Beech, Plywood
Set Of Four Mid Century Ernest Race Antelope Chairs
By Ernest Race
Located in Norwich, England
Set of four mid century Antelope chairs designed by Ernest Race. Each labelled: Race Made in England. Circa late 1950's. Originally designed for the Festival of Britain 1951 as an i...
Steel
Sold
H 31.89 in W 16.15 in D 16.93 in
1950s Black and Walnut Dining Chair in the Style of Imari Tapiovaara
By Tapio Wirkkala
Located in Stow on the Wold, GB
Very good quality dining chair in the style of Imari Tapiovaara. Designed in the 1950s. Ebonized beech legs and back spindles and walnut veneered seats. In good vintage condition, v...
Walnut, Plywood
Set of Four Vintage Robin Day 675 Dining Chairs
By Robin Day
Located in London, GB
An iconic and extremely stylish set of four vintage Robin Day 675 dining chairs. Originally designed in 1952, this set were manufactured under license by Case furniture, they date fr...
Steel
Sold
H 31.89 in W 16.15 in D 16.93 in
1950s Black and Walnut Dining Chair in the Style of Imari Tapiovaara
By Tapio Wirkkala
Located in Stow on the Wold, GB
Very good quality dining chair in the style of Imari Tapiovaara. Designed in the 1950s. Ebonized beech legs and back spindles and walnut veneered seats. In good vintage condition, v...
Walnut, Plywood
Set Of Three Hillestak Chairs By Robin Day
By Robin Day
Located in London, London
Three Hillestak chairs Designed by Robin Day Made by Hille Can be stacked Two with Hille labels In original condition. These chairs haven't been restored so show signs of wear. ...
Beech, Walnut, Plywood
Sold
H 37.01 in W 37.8 in D 19.69 in
Organic Design dining chair, handmade in the U.K by Antique modern Mix
Located in London, GB
A contemporary dining Chair, handmade in the U.K by us at Antique Modern Mix, this collection of curvaceous furniture is made from Birch plywood which is FSC certified which means it...
Birch, Plywood
Set of 4 Sculptural Dining Chairs Attr. to Gerald Summers
By Gerald Summers
Located in Long Island City, NY
Set of 4 Sculptural Dining Chairs attr. to Gerald Summers reupholstered in Boucle
Bouclé, Plywood
Set of 4 Robin Day Hillestak Dining Chairs for Hille - 1950s
By Robin Day
Located in Tunbridge Wells, GB
A stunning set of 4 Mid Century Robin Day Hillestak Chairs. Designed by Robin Day for Hille in the 1950's, these iconic chairs used teschnques developed in the war to produce light...
Beech, Plywood
Sold
H 28 in W 21.75 in D 21 in
Modern White Bouclé Bent Plywood Gerald Summers Dining Chairs Set of Four
By Gerald Summers
Located in Chicago, IL
White Bouclé Modern Iconic bent plywood dining chairs by Gerald Summers, circa 1930s. As much modernist sculpture as they are furniture, these chairs are stunning from every angle. T...
Plywood
Set of Four Mid Century Jason Chairs by Carl Jacobs
By Carl Jacobs
Located in Gloucestershire, GB
Set of four iconic design Jason stacking chairs designed by Carl Jacobs. These chairs have a moulded 5-ply beech plywood seat and a solid beech frame. An example is held in the per...
Beech, Bentwood, Plywood
Sold
H 33.47 in W 16.93 in D 15.75 in
Frank Guille Program Bar Stool, Kandya UK, 1958 - Pair available
By Kandya, Frank Guille
Located in London, GB
White framed Program stool, designed in 1958 by Frank Guille for Kandya. A stripped-back Minimalist piece, the Program stool is a brilliant example of clean lines and a British utili...
Steel
Single DCW Dining Chair by Charles Eames for Vitra Plywood 1999
By Charles Eames
Located in Stow on the Wold, GB
Wonderful DCW dining chair, designed by Charles Eames and manufactured by Vitra. Made from Ash veneered moulded plywood with rubber mounts. Vitra label to the underside, dated 1999...
Ash, Plywood
Sold
H 28.35 in W 19.3 in D 21.26 in
Set of 4 Dcw Dining Chairs by Charles Eames for Vitra Plywood 1999
By Charles Eames
Located in Stow on the Wold, GB
Wonderful set of 4 DCW dining chairs, designed by Charles Eames and manufactured by Vitra. Made from Ash veneered moulded plywood with rubber mounts. Vitra labels to the underside, ...
Ash, Plywood
Sold
H 35.63 in W 17.33 in D 20.08 in
Four Stunning Contemporary Bent Plywood & Polished Chrome Framed Dining Chairs 4
Located in West Sussex, Pulborough
We are delighted to offer for sale this Contemporary suite of four bent plywood and chrome dining chairs A very good looking and expertly crafted set, they are a medium back heigh...
Chrome
1950s Set of 6 Robin Day Hillestak Dining Chairs for Hille
By Hille, Robin Day
Located in London, GB
A beautiful and iconic set of vintage bent ply and walnut dining chairs, these were designed by Robin Day in the 1950s, they are called the Hillestak chairs. This set of six has been...
Walnut, Plywood
1950s Set of 6 Robin Day Hillestak Dining Chairs for Hille
By Hille, Robin Day
Located in London, GB
A beautiful and iconic set of vintage bent ply and walnut dining chairs, these were designed by Robin Day in the 1950s, they are called the Hillestak chairs. This set of six has been...
Walnut, Plywood
Sold
H 31.89 in W 16.15 in D 16.93 in
1950s Black and Walnut Dining Chair in the Style of Imari Tapiovaara
By Tapio Wirkkala
Located in Stow on the Wold, GB
Very good quality dining chair in the style of Imari Tapiovaara. Designed in the 1950s. Ebonized beech legs and back spindles and walnut veneered seats. In good vintage condition,...
Walnut, Plywood
Sold
H 28 in W 51 in D 24 in
Robin Day Hillestak Dining Table & Chairs by Hille Midcentury Design, circa 1950
By Robin Day, Hille
Located in Longdon, Tewkesbury
Robin Day Hillestak dining table and chairs by Hille midcentury design, circa 1950 Hillestak dining set by Robin Day for Hille, dining table and four dining chairs, circa 1950, wi...
Beech, Plywood
Sold
H 31.89 in W 16.15 in D 16.93 in
1950s Black and Walnut Dining Chair in the Style of Imari Tapiovaara Set of 6
By Tapio Wirkkala
Located in Stow on the Wold, GB
Very good quality dining chair in the style of Imari Tapiovaara. Designed in the 1950s. Ebonised Beech legs and back spindles and Walnut veneered seats. In good vintage condition,...
Walnut, Plywood
Sold
H 29.93 in W 19.69 in L 29.93 in
Set of 6 Midcentury 'Hillestak' Chairs by Robin Day for Hille, circa 1950
By Hille, Robin Day
Located in London, GB
6 stacking Hillestak chairs in walnut and beech plywood, designed by midcentury British design icon Robin Day, for Hille in the 1950s.
Plywood
Sold
H 28.75 in W 19.3 in D 16.54 in
1950s Plywood Hillestak Stacking Chairs by Robin Day for Hille UK
By Robin Day, Hille
Located in Stow on the Wold, GB
“Hillestak” chair designed by Robin Day and manufactured by Hille, UK. Designed in 1950. Moulded Beech veneered plywood seat and back and solid Beech legs. In good vintage condition,...
Beech, Plywood
Sold
H 28 in W 51 in D 24 in
Robin Day Hillestak Dining Table & Chairs by Hille Midcentury Design, circa 1950
By Robin Day, Hille
Located in Longdon, Tewkesbury
Robin Day Hillestak dining table and vhairs by Hille midcentury Design, circa 1950 Hillestak dining set by Robin Day for Hille, dining table and four dining chairs, circa 1950, wi...
Beech, Plywood
Sold
H 28 in W 51 in D 24 in
Robin Day Hillestak Dining Table & Chairs by Hille Midcentury Design, circa 1950
By Robin Day, Hille
Located in Longdon, Tewkesbury
Robin day Hillestak dining table and chairs by Hille midcentury design circa 1950 Hillestak dining set by robin day for Hille, dining table and four dining chairs, circa 1950, wit...
Beech, Plywood
Sold
H 28 in W 51 in D 24 in
Robin Day Hillestak Dining Table & Chairs by Hille Midcentury Design, circa 1950
By Robin Day, Hille
Located in Longdon, Tewkesbury
Robin Day Hillestak dining table and chairs by Hille midcentury design, circa 1950 Hillestak dining set by Robin Day for Hille, dining table and four dining chairs, circa 1950, wi...
Beech, Plywood
Four 1960s "Jason" Chairs by Carl Jacobs for Kandya
By Carl Jacobs, Kandya
Located in Shepperton, Surrey
A set of four "Jason" dining chairs by Carl Jacobs for Kandya. The striking plywood shell combines with angled beechwood legs to create a stylish and highly inviting shape. C...
Beech, Plywood
Sold
H 29.93 in W 19.69 in D 18.9 in
Carl Jacobs & Frank Guille Designed 'Jason' Chair for Kandya, 1950s
By Frank Guille, Carl Jacobs, Kandya
Located in Hitchin, England
A 'Jason' chair, these iconic chairs were designed in the 1950s by Danish designer Carl Jacobs & Frank Guille and manufactured by Kandya. The seat and back of the chair are folded...
Plywood
Sold
H 29.93 in W 19.69 in D 17.72 in
Dining Set - Robin Day for Hille Midcentury 1950s table and 4 chairs
By Hille, Robin Day
Located in Highclere, Newbury
British midcentury 1950s beech and walnut veneer dining set by Robin Day for Hille. This dining set features a rare Robin Day extending table matched to 4 Hillestak chairs. Owned ...
Beech, Plywood, Walnut
Sold
H 29.93 in W 19.69 in D 18.9 in
Pair of Carl Jacobs & Frank Guille Designed 'Jason' Chairs for Kandya, 1950s
By Frank Guille, Kandya, Carl Jacobs
Located in Hitchin, England
A pair of 'Jason' chair, these iconic chairs were designed in the 1950s by Danish designer Carl Jacobs and manufactured by Kandya. The seat and back of the chair are folded from a...
Plywood
Mid-Century Modern Jason Chair by Carl Jacobs
By Carl Jacobs, Kandya
Located in London, GB
Held in the V&A collection in South Kensington London and featured in its recent show plywood: Material of the modern world, this lightweight, stackable, chair with gently tapering, ...
Plywood, Beech, Mahogany, Walnut
Single Jason Chair by Carl Jacobs
By Carl Jacobs, Kandya
Located in London, GB
Held in the V&A collection in South Kensington London and featured in its recent show plywood: Material of the modern world, this lightweight, stackable, chair with gently tapering, ...
Mahogany, Plywood
Set of Six Jason Chair by Carl Jacobs
By Carl Jacobs, Kandya
Located in London, GB
Held in the V&A collection in South Kensington London and featured in its recent show plywood: Material of the modern world, this lightweight, stackable, chair with gently taperi...
Mahogany, Plywood
Robin Day Hillestak Set of Six Early Edition Chairs
By Hille, Robin Day
Located in London, GB
Robin Day was an iconic British Industrial designer, best known for his injection-moulded polypropylene stacking chairs – more than 20 million of which have been manufactured – and h...
Beech, Walnut, Plywood
Frank Guille Program Bar Stools, Kandya, UK, 1958
By Frank Guille, Kandya
Located in London, GB
White framed Program stool, designed in 1958 by Frank Guille for Kandya. A stripped-back Minimalist piece, the Program stool is a brilliant example of clean lines and a British utili...
Steel
Set of Four Hille Stak Chairs by Robin Day, 1950s
By Hille, Robin Day
Located in London, GB
Set of four Hille Stak chairs by Robin Day for Hille, England, 1950s. Formed bent plywood chairs with beech frames and walnut-faced panels; these are Mark II chairs with scissor-s...
Beech, Plywood, Walnut
1960s "Jason" Four Chairs by Frank Guille
By Frank Guille
Located in London, GB
A set of four beautiful "Jason" dining chairs in original lemon yellow by Frank Guille for Kandya. A Classic British Mid-Century Modern design, the striking plywood shell combines...
Steel
$2,600 / set
H 29 in W 20 in D 17 in
Modernist Pair of Plywood Chairs, Carl Jacob C2 "Jason" for Kandya
By Carl Jacobs
Located in Buffalo, NY
The Jason chair was designed by the Danish designer Carl Jacobs but was manufactured by Kandya, a British firm. This lightweight, stackable, chair has gently tapering splayed wooden ...
Beech, Plywood
Organically shaped, clean-lined and elegantly simple are three terms that well describe vintage mid-century modern furniture. The style, which emerged primarily in the years following World War II, is characterized by pieces that were conceived and made in an energetic, optimistic spirit by creators who believed that good design was an essential part of good living.
ORIGINS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
CHARACTERISTICS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW
ICONIC MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNS
VINTAGE MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS
The mid-century modern era saw leagues of postwar American architects and designers animated by new ideas and new technology. The lean, functionalist International-style architecture of Le Corbusier and Bauhaus eminences Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius had been promoted in the United States during the 1930s by Philip Johnson and others. New building techniques, such as “post-and-beam” construction, allowed the International-style schemes to be realized on a small scale in open-plan houses with long walls of glass.
Materials developed for wartime use became available for domestic goods and were incorporated into mid-century modern furniture designs. Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen, who had experimented extensively with molded plywood, eagerly embraced fiberglass for pieces such as the La Chaise and the Womb chair, respectively.
Architect, writer and designer George Nelson created with his team shades for the Bubble lamp using a new translucent polymer skin and, as design director at Herman Miller, recruited the Eameses, Alexander Girard and others for projects at the legendary Michigan furniture manufacturer.
Harry Bertoia and Isamu Noguchi devised chairs and tables built of wire mesh and wire struts. Materials were repurposed too: The Danish-born designer Jens Risom created a line of chairs using surplus parachute straps for webbed seats and backrests.
The Risom lounge chair was among the first pieces of furniture commissioned and produced by celebrated manufacturer Knoll, a chief influencer in the rise of modern design in the United States, thanks to the work of Florence Knoll, the pioneering architect and designer who made the firm a leader in its field. The seating that Knoll created for office spaces — as well as pieces designed by Florence initially for commercial clients — soon became desirable for the home.
As the demand for casual, uncluttered furnishings grew, more mid-century furniture designers caught the spirit.
Classically oriented creators such as Edward Wormley, house designer for Dunbar Inc., offered such pieces as the sinuous Listen to Me chaise; the British expatriate T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings switched gears, creating items such as the tiered, biomorphic Mesa table. There were Young Turks such as Paul McCobb, who designed holistic groups of sleek, blond wood furniture, and Milo Baughman, who espoused a West Coast aesthetic in minimalist teak dining tables and lushly upholstered chairs and sofas with angular steel frames.
Generations turn over, and mid-century modern remains arguably the most popular style going. As the collection of vintage mid-century modern chairs, dressers, coffee tables and other furniture for the living room, dining room, bedroom and elsewhere on 1stDibs demonstrates, this period saw one of the most delightful and dramatic flowerings of creativity in design history.
No matter what your dream dining experience looks like, there is a wide-ranging variety of vintage, new and antique dining room chairs on 1stDibs. Find upholstered dining room chairs, wood dining room chairs and more to outfit any space designated for a good meal, be it in your home or in the great outdoors.
In the early 18th century, most dining room tables and other furniture was designed to look masculine. In America, dining rooms weren’t even much of a concept until the late 1700s, when a space set aside specifically for dining became a part of the construction of homes for the wealthy. Dining room chairs of the era were likely made of walnut or oak. In Europe, neoclassical dining chairs emerged during the 1750s owing to nostalgia for classical antiquity, while the curving chair crests of Queen Anne furniture in the United States preceded the artistically bold seat backs that characterized the Chippendale chairs that followed. If there weren't enough dining chairs at suppertime in the American colonies, men were prioritized and women stood.
In the dining rooms of today, however, there is enough space for everyone to have a seat at the table. Modern styles introduce innovative design choices that play with shape and style. Icons of mid-century modern dining room chairs are plentiful: With its distinctive bentwood back, there is the DCW dining chair by Charles and Ray Eames, while Hans Wegner's timeless classic, the Wishbone chair, remains relevant and elegant decades after its debut. Stefano Giovannoni's White Rabbit dining chairs, in their lovable polyethylene biomorphism, reinvent what dining can look like.
Today's wide range of dining room chairs also means that they can now be styled in different ways, bringing functionality and fun to any sumptuous dining space. No longer do tables have to be accompanied by a matching set of seats. Skillfully mixing and matching colors and designs allows you to showcase your personality without sacrificing the cohesion of a given space.
By furnishing your dining room with cozy chairs — vintage, antique or otherwise — family time can extend far beyond mealtime. The plush upholstery of Victorian-style dining room chairs is perfect for game nights that stretch from dinner to midnight snack. Outdoor tables and dining chairs can also present an excellent opportunity for bonding and eating — what goes better with a delicious meal than fresh air, anyway?
Whether you prefer your chairs streamlined and stackable or ornate and one of a kind, the offerings on 1stDibs will elevate your mealtime and beyond.
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