With the likes of Le Corbusier, Mies Van Der Rohe and Eileen Gray, designer furniture and particularly the Bauhaus furniture movement based in Germany was booming at the start of the 20^th Century. Some of the most celebrated pieces of designer furniture emanated from Europe during this period with the Barcelona chair, Brno chair, LC4 Chaise longue and Le Corbusier Grande Comfort. The rise of Nazism in Germany resulted in the fall of the legendary Bauhaus school in 1933 but not without significantly influencing young designers from both Europe and North America.

In fact it was the Scandinavian countries that took the lead in Europe, with a softer more subtle approach to designer furniture than the severity, sharp angles and mix of leather and metal of the avant-garde Bauhaus movement. Scandinavian designer furniture focused more on traditional chair materials mixing local crafts with new ways to produce them. Designers /Architects like Alvar Aalto with chairs Model 31 and Model 41, bent laminated wood to make cantilever chairs, a process that hadn’t been achieved before on such a scale. It was Aalto’s work which in part led to works by both Marcel Breuer with his "Isokon long chair" and Charles Eames LCW and DCW ranges. Subsequent designers like Hans Wegner, with his classical shapes or Verner Panton, Poul M Volther Eliel Saarinen, Arne Jacobsen, Poul Kjaerholm and Eero Saarinen kept up the idea of quality designer chairs emanating from the Scandinavian countries.

Scandinavian designers became frequently winners of awards at the prestigious Triennale de Milano and provided a showcase for their designs. Scandinavian winners of the Grand Prix, the ultimate accolade at the fair were more often than not Scandinavian during the 50’s 60’s and 70’s. Winners included Hans Wegner in 1951 for his round chair, Arne Jacobsen in 1957 for the Grand Prix chair (3130) and Poul Kjaerholm for his PK22 chair in 1956.

On the other side of the Atlantic contemporary designer furniture was flourishing, with designers like Charles and Ray Eames, Florence Knoll, Harry Bertoia and George Nelson leading the way. The Eames built on the aforementioned Avlar Aalto’s design of bent plywood but were able to take the concept to a new level with not only their ability to bend wood with a greater complexity but also on 2 planes simultaneously, something Aalto failed to achieve. The Eameses also managed to revolutionise the production of the manufacturing process enabling the designer chairs not only to be beautiful in appearance but also affordable. The Eames LCW chair, LCM, DCM and Eames DCW were born from the initial 1941 design for the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and designed with Eero Saarinen. The husband and wife team were the most innovative of the American 20th century designers working first with plywood and later leather and aluminium to produce in 30 year period some of the finest designer chairs ever seen. The most famous designs included the Alumium group which sporned a range of Eames office chairs including the Eames High back ribbed office chair EA 119 and the Eames Soft pad chair EA 219. Arguably the most famous of them all the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman (670, 671),a chair of sumptuous proportions.

Harry Bertoia having worked with Charles and Ray Eames in the 1940's to produce the now ledgendary Eames LCW now set about to produce what is now known as the "Bertoia Collection for Knoll". Initially a sculpturor, Bertoia set about designing 5 pieces of furniture that were as much about the space they took up as they were about functionality and comfort. Berotia's signature piece was the Diamond chair, a series of bent metal rods welded together creating a designer chair light and airy in appearance but incredably strong and comfortable.

Many of the pieces of desinger furniture were truly inspiring but so was there price tag. Only a select few were able to afford the subtly shapes and exquiste leather that made up the chairs. This led to a lack of interest in many of the designs in the 1980's and 1990's. Designer furniture, is now once again back in fashion thanks to a large part the introduction of inspired or reproduction designer furniture. Why not browse our site with so many beautiful designer chairs to choose from Metro Furniture has something for everyone. Whether you are looking for Eames office chairs, Poul Kjaerholm PK22 chair or Arne Jacobsen inspired series 7 chairs we have what you are looking for.