How to Identify Modern Furniture

Mid-century modern furniture styles span from the 1950s through the 1970s. The materials varied from natural wood, metal, to technologically influenced plastic, fiberglass and vinyl.  John Neuhart, Evans Product Company, Charles Eames or Herman Miller produced and designed furniture styles that are now sought after by collectors.

1. Check under seats for paper stickers. They will be a cream, red or black bearing the name of the designer and the location where it was manufactured. If the piece was made with molded plywood, it may have a sticker stating "Evans Company" as the manufacturer. Modifications of a design may have a "model name" such LCW, which designates Low Chair Wood, and DCM for Dining Chair Metal.


2. Look for simplicity and clean lines. Mid-century modern continued the art nouveaux style of the 1930s, incorporating similar designs with new manufactured materials such as plastic and vinyl. Very little carving or imprinting was used on furniture. The style often involved a combination of materials, such a plastic scoop seat with two bent steel rods forming the legs of the chair bolted into the plastic seat.


3. Look for industrial influences in design; goose neck lamps, the scoop chair, under bed storage and beds that fold into the wall. Multi-use and space saving design offered furnishing options for apartments and small spaces that was unavailable in times past. Versatility allowed people to use a piece of furniture in the kitchen as a dining table and later to move it into the hallway for knick knacks.


4. Look for designer vs manufacturer. Though people still purchase "MacMahon" furniture, this period of time notated a break from the 1930s manufacturer orientation and focused more on the designer.