Monday, April 11, 2016

The 15 Best Contemporary Dining Chairs of All Time

The design era of the 1940's through 1965 is one of the most influential in our history. So it's really not surprising that it gave birth to some of the classic contemporary dining chairs and design ideas of our time. You've seen them at street-side cafes, upscale restaurants, and some of the most famous buildings on earth. And regardless of the setting, these designs catch your eye, draw you in, and beg the question: Would that chair work in my home? So here they are: the 15 best mid-Century-inspired dining chairs.

Eames Molded Plastic Chair


1. Eames Molded Fiberglass Chair


Easily one of the most replicated chairs in our time, the 1951 Eames Molded Fiberglass Chair is an amazing example of modern designs ideas being married to new, never-before-seen manufacturing concepts. When Charles and Ray Eames set out to create this design, they had a few specific goals. First, they wanted something simple and modern that could be mass produced in a variety of colors and finish options. Second, they wanted their design to acquire universal adoption, which meant that price point was a concern. With those goals in mind, the Eames Molded Fiberglass Chair was born.

By adopting the concept of the Eames Molded Fiberglass Armchair, the Eames brothers successfully created a modern piece that is one of the iconic designs of the era. At that time, that was no easy feat! By removing the arms from their larger design, they were actually removing a good deal of the structural strength supporting the chair's back. Without the arms, it took significant design changes and testing before they could create the armless design that didn't crack between the seat and back. Available in a variety of legs options, the chairs above are shown with the dowel option.

Although still available in fiberglass, most modern Eames chairs are constructed from plastic. In fact, the chair is often referred to as the Eames Molded Plastic Chair as well. Regardless, it's a timeless modern dining chair for any space! Shop the licensed version here, or you might like our Charlie Dining Chairs.


2. Louis Ghost Dining Chair


This chair is a more recent design, making its debut earlier this century in 2002. Nevertheless, it's hard not to see echoes of Eames in Philippe Starck's Louis Chair. Starck didn't invent the lines of this piece; far from it. In fact, this shape has been around since the 18th Century! But Starck modernized it in a way no designer had. It required significant manufacturing and design prowess, but this chair is crafted from a single piece of transparent polycarbonate! 

Like the Eames Molded Chair above, the Louis Ghost was a first of its kind. And like the Eames design, it also required some ingenuity to craft a stable chair from a single material. 

It's hard not to see the irony in the Louis Ghost Dining Chair. After all, this is a chair that harkens back to English royalty, yet it's made for the space age! Plus, it's incredibly versatile, works indoor or out, and stacks up to six high. It's really no wonder the design has captured the imagination of thousands, including mid-Century modern design buffs. 18th Century style in 21st Century materials - hard to ignore that! You can find licensed versions of the Louis Ghost here, or you might be interested in our Anime Arm Chair.

3. Cesca Armchair


Marcel Breuer is probably best known for his design of the Wassily Chair. That design was the first of its kind to used bent steel tubing. Obviously, the gentle curves and addition of tensioned black leather straps were components that helped make Wassily one of the most recognizable lounge chairs ever. Following that design, Breuer created a new masterpiece for the dining space in 1928.

The Cesca Armchair is a design named for his daughter Francesca. You've likely also heard it called the Breuer Dining Chair. Employing a similar design element, Breuer crafted Cesca from bent steel tubing finished in chrome. Never before had a dining chair been crafted from one piece of bent steel. He added a padded seat, backrest and arms to create a chair that was both striking and comfortable.

Cara McCarty, and associate curator at MoMA says of Cesca, "it's among the ten most important chairs of the 20th century." Obviously, placing it on our list is an easy call!

4. Panton Chair


Another classic cantilevered design like the Cesca, the Panton Chair is modern in more ways than you might realize. This classic design was introduced in 1967, with commercial production beginning shortly thereafter.

Envisioned by renowned Danish designer Verner Panton, his namesake chair was actually years in the making. In the last 50's Panton had grown increasingly interested in the potential for plastics in home furnishings. He'd created drafts of a chair, crafted from one single piece of plastic, that could be used almost anywhere, indoors or out. However, it wasn't until Panton encountered Swiss furniture manufacturer Vitra, that his vision was anything more than a dream.

With Panton's vision and Vitra's advanced manufacturing, the two paired up over the course of four years to create the first ever dining chair crafted from a single piece of plastic! In addition to the Panton Chair's innovative manufacturing, the chair won numerous design awards and is regarded as one of the foremost designs of the mid-Century. If you like the Panton, you might like our set of two S Chairs.


5. Series 7 Chair



The Series 7 Chair has to be one of the most recognizable chairs on the planet, with replicas and variations everywhere from here to your local frozen yogurt shop. And, yet, a vast majority of people have never heard the name "Series 7." Breuer? Of course. Panton? Yup. Series 7? Huh? In fact, several of us had seen the Series 7 and guessed names like "Tendy" and "Bunny." It's sort of a downside to ubiquity: with so many variations on the original, some of the impostors get confused for the original real deal.

The Series 7 Chair's lineage is nothing to sneeze at! Designed by Arne Jacobsen, the Series 7 made its debut in 1955, following the popularity of the Ant. It's difficult to believe, but Series 7 is crafted from a single piece of bent plywood. Modern manufacturing simplifies the process now; imagine the detail and patience that went into creating the bend between the seat and back, and the gently curved waterfall front of the seat. Of course, each bend had to be done without cracking or undermining the strength of the wood itself!

Series 7 is available in a dizzying array of colors and wood stains, with chrome steel legs giving the chair a simple, elegant finish.

6. Panton System 1-2-3 Standard Dining Chair


There's a well-known quote (in furniture-land, anyway) from Verner Panton - he says "I wanted to design furniture that grows up out of the floor – to turn the furniture into something organic and never with four legs." Like his Panton chair above, it's easy to see how Panton crafted the System 1-2-3 Standard Dining Chair with that goal in mind.

Introduced in 1973, the Standard Dining Chair was just one design of 20 that Panton had created for a series. While the System 1-2-3 chair shares the same design intent as Panton's namesake chair, he achieved the goal in a completely different manner. Instead of a single material, Panton began the Standard Dining Chair with a brushed steel base. This approach enabled the chair to swivel, and gave it a decidedly more contemporary motif.

On top he added the chair itself, with echoes of the Panton cantilevered design. It's a little hard to imagine, but the entire seat and back are crafted from one single oval-shaped piece of steel covered in foam and upholstery. That oval was then bent to precise specifications in order to create an organic and comfortable seat you see above.

The net result is a design with simple and stylish curves, all offered in a variety of fabrics, ensuring that the System 1-2-3 Standard Dining Chair is an easy, contemporary kitchen chair to add into any space.


7. Spindle Chair


It's tough for us not to see the Spindle Chair and think it originated from a rebellious Amish designer, casting a traditional chair in cleaner modern lines and materials. But the origins of the Spindle Chair are a little more ordinary, albeit still intriguing. It's actually a design introduced in 2013 from architect Craig Bassam and Scott Fellows. Their web site says "designer Craig Bassam’s imagination was ignited when he noticed the traditional utilitarian chair juxtaposed against the powerful geometry of Kahn’s building."

In the image below you can see what Craig Bassam saw. Take note of the geometry mentioned above: the angled wood panels, and circular exposures of the library's different levels:

He applied the concept of that powerful geometry to the classic English Windsor Chair. By changing the wooden legs and spindles to brushed steel, Bassam transformed a stuffy design into something quite contemporary. The thinner, cleaner legs give the chair a more airy feel, but the real action is in the spindles - hence the chair's name. Crafted from the same brushed steel as the legs, the new spindles are at once lighter visually than their hand-spun predecessors, yet, conversely more noticeable. It's almost as if the design itself is playing off your expectations to see something traditional, and, instead, finding a decidedly modern material.

The Spindle Chair boasts an ergonomically-formed solid wooden seat, and matching curved armrests. Following the design's popularity, BassamFellows created matching bar and counter stools to pair with the modern armchair.

8. Sancturary Dining Chair


Sanctuary is an ideal modern dining chair that easily joined our list of 15 favorites. Designed and manufactured by ModLoft, the Sanctuary Armchair blends a number of modern elements into one beautiful and cohesive piece. 

For most, the first thing to catch your eye are the angled armrests, a bold and geometric design choice that gives the chair a unique, unmistakable silhouette. Nevertheless, Sanctuary also includes a number of more subtle design elements that are easier to overlook. The low back and thin sleek legs are all clad in hand-stitched leather; a nod, no doubt, to Italy's influence in modern design trends.

Sanctuary is available in two striking colors - the urban whisky brown you see above, or a more modern and classic white. Regardless of which color you place into your home, the Sanctuary Dining Chair offers a daring design, complimented by the natural beauty of leather.

9. Eames Molded Wood Side Chair


50 or 60 years later, it's easy to take the classic chairs of the mid-Century for granted. After all, most of the classic chairs have been replicated the world over, a fact that undercuts the true design genius and manufacturing prowess that went into these dining chairs in the first place. Which brings us to Herman Miller's interpretation of an Eames classic...

We love the Eames Molded Wood Side Chair because it forces us to recognize that contradiction. Classics like the Panton and Eames Molded Plastic (Fiberglass) Chair were truly design and manufacturing feats for their era. They were literally the firsts of their kind!

But what types of designs would geniuses like Frank Eames or Arne Jacobsen, to name two, have created if they weren't limited by the realities of mid-Century manufacturing? The Eames Molded Wood Side Chair is one potential answer. Impossible to manufacturer even a decade or two ago, Herman Miller has applied new technologies to a mid-Century classic, moving the design itself in a direction perhaps only the Eames' could have imagined.

Instead of the fun and funky colors of the original fiberglass design, this variation offers the same lines cast in hardwood veneers. From the one-piece construction to the waterfall seat, the design is the same. However, the end result is a reminder of two truths: good design is eternal, but design can only as good as our current technologies allow.

 10. Sloane Dining Chair


Another bold and more recent design from ModLoft, the Sloane Dining Chair is a striking marriage of classic modern design elements. Designer Ted Toledano crated a piece that blends two different staples of contemporary design: brushed steel and black leather. Pulling inspiration from Italian and Danish designers alike, the black leather upholstery is slung across the frame to create the taut seating surface and backrest.

However, unlike many Italian leather chairs, the Sloane Dining Chair goes a cleaner route, foregoing the  recognizable stitching, and tucking the leather edges into the steel frame itself. The result is a look that harkens back to Marcel Breuer, while retaining its own design independence.

Beneath, Sloane's striking frame consists of clean tubular steel legs meeting at a seat frame that swoopes upward to create a truly contemporary silhouette. The last design flourish is Toledano's choice to separate the seat and back. Visually it creates an additional angle at the chair's apex, and a slightly edgier appeal, which we love!

And it turns out we aren't the only ones who love the design choices that led to the Sloane. In 2012, the Sloane Dining Chair was honored with an iF Product Design Award, recognizing the intelligent blend of modern, Italian and classic inspirations that led to such a striking dining chair design.

11. Brno Flat Bar Chair


Yeah, yeah. The Brno Flat Bar Chair is an obvious choice. We get that! But the Brno is more than just a classic dining chair. Along with the Cesca, it may very well be the classic chair! There's an argument to be made that the remaining chairs on our list would be substantively different if not for the Brno - the genesis of so many contemporary designs.

You may have noticed that a vast majority of the dining chairs on this list were created in '50's and '60's, or much more recently based on some of the classic design elements of those mid-Century classics. However, the Brno Flat Bar Chair predates almost every one. By a lot! Ludwig Mies van Der Rohe designed the Brno in 1930. Panton, Jacobsen and Eames' designs came two to three decades later!

Part of the roaring 20's, it's said that Mies van der Rohe was inspired by the country's growing skyscrapers, crafting the Brno as an homage to the maturing cityscapes of the era. His cantilevered design was made possible using the decade's most prominent material: thick, heavy gauge steel. By incorporating the frame into the arms, Mies van der Rohe was able to suspend the black leather seat and back to create a look that was open and airy. Padded, matching armrests completed the motif.

Following Cesca's introduction just two years prior, it's hard not to see the similarities in the two chairs' silhouettes. For our money, we like the more contemporary feel of the Brno. Were it not for the stock market crash and ensuing depression that shortly predated Brno's introduction, it's a fair question if the Great Depression effectively stymied a sort of design arms race... We don't see classic designs start to appear again for almost 20 years!

12. Mayfair Dining Chair


Speaking of chairs boasting cantilevered designs, the Mayfair Dining Chair is a piece that turns that traditional paradigm upside down. Both Cesca and Brno gained international fame by utilizing a sled-style base that suspends the chair's seat and back from the front. Mayfair goes the opposite direction by suspending the seat and back at their apex in the back, creating an undeniably appealing and contemporary form.

Designed for ModLoft, the Mayfair Dining Chair's interpretation of the classic cantilever is unique in more ways than one. In addition to abandoning the lever point, Mayfair abandons the sled base form as well, even the modified version you see in the Panton Chair, sticking with traditional legs instead. Crafted from carbon steel, each leg angles up to meet at Mayfair's visual center. The seat and back are perched on top, curving gracefully from front to back, suspending Mayfair's seat... almost like a diving board.

The end result is a profile that's as inviting as it is contemporary. Mayfair completes the re-imagination of cantilevered looks by abandoning the arms as well, opting for a cleaner, more casual theme. Stitched Italian leather and Mayfair's graceful curves offer touches of traditional modern styling, without comprising the thoughtful lines that make Mayfair one of the coolest modern kitchen chairs you can find!

13. The Drop Chair


Architect and designer Arne Jacobsen is probably most well-known in the furniture industry for his classic designs: The Ant, Egg and Swan. Nevertheless, we've found ourselves quite fond of a lesser-known piece - the Drop Chair.

Like the Egg and Swan Chairs, Drop was part of Mr. Jacobsen's design collection for the SAS Royal Hotel, now the Radisson Blu in Copenhagen, introduced in 1958. The Drop Chair was originally produced in a very limited quantity, and used exclusively in the SAS Royal Hotel.

And then the design was locked up! For more than 50 years, the Drop Chair's lines sat dormant. The Republic of Fritz Hansen re-launched the design just a few years ago, making the Drop available in six mid-Century modern colors: black, white, red, sand yellow, grey and storm blue.

Originally crafted from plastic set on tubular steel legs, the Drop Chair's unique shape and contemporary silhouette is a surprisingly comfortable chair for any dining space. Today's versions boast a similar materials palette to the originals, with additional upholstery options including leather!



14. Real Good Dining Chair


Laser cut steel? Check. Bold, angular lines? Yes. New manufacturing techniques? Of course!

The Real Good Dining Chair, offered by BluDot, may be one of this generation's classic designs. Like it's mid-Century predecessors, the Real Good Dining Chair offers the world a few never-before-seen ideas.

To start, like the Eames Molded Fibreglass Chair or the Louis Ghost Chair before it, the Real Good Chair is crafted from a brand new material. Instead of fibreglass or clear polycarbonate, though, this chair is envisioned in laser cut steel.

To add to the Real Good Chair's bona fides, the manufacturing process itself offers a unique twist. We've been using lasers to cut steel now for years, but this design and material choice went hand-in-hand. Only steel is a substrate strong enough to support the chair's shape, while still allowing you to fold the entire seat and back flat! Yes. Incredibly, the Real Good Chair ships flat!

As far as lines go: It's undeniably contemporary, with angled edges that give the chair an industrial feel perfectly suited for today's urban kitchens. In the end, we love this chair. Our only complaint is the name! Surely folding, laser-cut steel is more than just "real good!"

15. Fauna Dining Chair


Open, airy and modern, the Fauna Dining Chair offers a more organic take on the traditional dining chair. Designed and manufactured for Nuevo Living out of Canada, the Fauna Dining Chair transforms the curved organic lines you see in so many classic chair designs, and takes a more literal approach to the "organic" element.

Beneath, the Fauna Dining Chair offers four polished stainless steel legs, curved to support the seat and back above. It's the seat and back, though, that make Fauna such a bold design. Nuevo has taken the classic curved seat and back design, crafted from formed polypropylene, and interwoven it with a silhouette of tree branches.

The combination of classic modern elements and nature's own striking lines combine to make the Fauna Dining Chair a design choice that's somehow contemporary, yet bohemian - modern and organic! It's the perfect compliment to a space that integrates the indoors and out.

Without a doubt, there are countless contemporary dining chairs that could have made this list. When it comes to choosing designs, or really even defining "contemporary," there's bound to be a wide array of preferences! At Modern Digs, we have hundreds of dining chairs ideal for your modern home. This quick video shows our 30 best sellers:

Let us know which designs you like the most, or even which designs you think should have made out list in the comments section below. 

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