JM Cannes Handmade Ashtray

On the Mid-Century Modern style…

Long story short: simple, clean lines, respectful use of materials and absence of decorative elements. This movement, born in the United States in 1945 (after the Second World War), extended its influence until the end of the 1960s. Mid-Century modernists looked to the future with optimism, prioritising functionality -inherited from the Bauhaus school of design- and natural materials (preferred by organicist architects such as Aalvar Alto or Frank Lloyd Wright).

Of course, the study of this style (and its name) took decades to arrive. It was the designer Cara Greenberg, with her book “Mid-Century Modern. Furniture of the 1950s” published in 1986, who came up with its key characteristics.  Mid-Century spaces are typically horizontal, with a predominance of white. The furniture is Danish design, the art is big and colorful, the lamps incorporate metal structures to bring an industrial touch.