What Is Mid-Century Modern Design

We spoke with designers about the history, key characteristics, and popularity of the midcentury modern style (which is often referred to as “MCM”). These pros also shared their tips for styling one’s home with MCM pieces and what to keep in mind when shopping.

What Is Midcentury Modern Style? Here’s What You Should Know

A unique 20th century interior design style has resurfaced with modern elements.

Sarah Lyon is a freelance writer and home decor enthusiast, who enjoys sharing good finds on home items. Since 2018, she has contributed to a variety of lifestyle publications, including Apartment Therapy and Architectural Digest.

In today’s design world, we see many replicas of midcentury modern furniture on the market, but the real deal is still extremely popular (and valuable!), too.

We spoke with designers about the history, key characteristics, and popularity of the midcentury modern style (which is often referred to as “MCM”). These pros also shared their tips for styling one’s home with MCM pieces and what to keep in mind when shopping.

Meet the Expert

• Liza Kuhn is a designer and the founder of Liza Kuhn Interiors.
• Amanda Thompson is a designer and the principal and CEO of ALine Studio.
• Eleanor Trepte is a designer with Dekay and Tate.

What Is Midcentury Modern Style?

This term refers to the dominant furnishings of the mid-20th century—simple, functional wooden pieces made from teak and curved designs reigned supreme. “Midcentury modern design evolved in response to a post-World War II environment,” designer Liza Kuhn explains. “Designers and architects were eager to develop new ideas that married the mass production and technology invented during the first half of the 20th century with a more optimistic outlook for the future.”

History

As you probably guessed, midcentury modern style originated during the middle of the 20th century and embodied the needs and wants of the population of that time. “Midcentury modern design is rooted in functionality, clean lines, and simplicity, which reflected the world at that time,” designer Amanda Thompson explains. “Homes were more linear, focused on maintaining a nuclear family unit and as such, the furniture design echoed this environment.”

Unlike frillier pieces or those filled with ornate detailing, midcentury modern furniture is much more straightforward in nature. “The need and desire for functional, simplistic furniture and decor in our homes was a rebellion against the ornate traditions from decades before, and a way for families to embrace a more modern, organic way of living,” designer Eleanor Trepte comments.

Midcentury modern can be considered a subset of modern design, defined as the style that became popular in the early 1900s. However, when compared to the traditional definitions of modern design, midcentury modern design tends to be unashamedly retro and often makes use of bright accent color to emphasize this point. Modern design, by contrast, typically has a more understated, utilitarian, industrial look.

Key Characteristics

Most authentic midcentury modern furniture is made from teak. “Teak was preferred for its richness in color and durability,” designer Rozit Arditi explains. “Rosewood and oak were the other commonly used woods, mostly in case pieces like tables, desks, and storage cabinets.”

But wood was by no means the only material present in the creation of midcentury modern pieces. “Materials were critical to mid century design,” Thompson notes. “We saw a lot of wood, metal, glass, and vinyl, often used in tension with each other to create a unique look.” These materials were often used to create furnishings in curved shapes. “The famous Eames chair is a hallmark of this look,” Trepte shares. “Other unique shapes took hold through curved and almost round sofas, odd shaped coffee tables, and even geometric shapes that felt angular and clean.”

Color was also a major component of midcentury style. “We saw the use of color in ways we didn’t see before, often either as a bold accent or as a way to make a piece of furniture stand out singularly in a room,” Thompson says.

Key elements of MCM decor:

• Furnishings emphasize function over ornament
• Lack of ornate frills in favor of simple geometric lines
• Frequent use of teak, rosewood, and oak
• Use of metal, glass, and vinyl
• Bold accent colors

Recent Rise to Popularity

As noted earlier, midcentury modern style celebrated functionality, and this is still a key tenant when decorating homes of the 21st century. “I appreciate the rise of multipurpose furniture, which was adopted in this design ethos and is something we still promote as designers today,” designer Becky Shea says. “Every piece serves a purpose and beyond, casting shadows on the days where rooms were beholden to being used once a year for a special occasion due to their ornate, elaborate design.”

Design Tips

When decorating with midcentury modern furniture, you will want to really let these wooden pieces shine. “Make sure the woods you select work together, and do not contrast each other,” Arditi explains. “If you have a teak MCM piece, don’t bring in ebony or zebra wood in the room—they will clash.”

Additionally, keep in mind that the furniture pieces of yesteryear were not made to accommodate today’s households, Arditi notes. While many people enjoy using midcentury modern credenzas as TV stands, for example, pieces that weren’t constructed explicitly for this purpose may be somewhat imperfect. “Understand that the case pieces were made decades ago and people’s needs were different,” Arditi comments. “Not all your tech equipment can fit in the sideboards or the bookcases.”

Finally, you’ll want to strike the right balance when it comes to incorporating MCM pieces into your space. “Pick and choose,” Thompson urges. “You want your home to feel modern, not like a museum of the 1960s. An Eames chair or a glass topped table with chrome legs can contrast nicely against a more textural rug, industrial-style cabinet, or transitional couch.” Additionally, Thompson states, “Don’t forget function!” Your home certainly shouldn’t resemble a museum, but it also shouldn’t act as one! Thompson adds, “The entire heart of the MCM movement lies in function so if you acquire gorgeous antique MCM chairs, for instance, make sure they are sturdy enough to handle daily use!”

What Is Mid-Century Modern Design?

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Alicja Zelazko is Associate Editor, Arts and Humanities, covering topics in the visual arts, architecture, music, and performance. Before joining Encyclopædia Britannica in 2017, she worked at the Art.

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The term “mid-century modern” is often said to have been coined by author Cara Greenberg for the title of her 1984 book Mid-Century Modern: Furniture of the 1950s. The phrase, however, was used before then—though sporadically—to describe the furniture and architecture of the mid-20th century. Indeed, Merriam-Webster indicates that the expression first appeared in print in 1953. Yet “mid-century modern” did not really enter the design and mainstream vocabulary until Greenberg’s book was published. The volume was a success, and the phrase was quickly adopted to characterize architecture, furniture, and graphic design made from about 1933 to 1965.

Although the designs of the mid-century era were wide-ranging in style, they often shared such characteristics as clean lines, organic shapes, and functionality. In the United States, designers adopted the improved technologies and materials coming out of World War II. They embraced mass production and frequently used fibreglass, bent plywood, aluminum, steel, foam, and plastic laminates. In furniture design, Charles and Ray Eames used fibreglass and molded plywood for many of their chairs, while Eero Saarinen used fibreglass-reinforced polyester and cast aluminum for his Tulip chairs and table. Meanwhile, in northern Europe, designers created a distinctly Scandinavian style by handcrafting their furniture and using such natural materials as wood and leather. Examples of this include Hans Wegner’s Wishbone chair, made from beechwood and paper cord, and Alvar Aalto’s Paimio chair, made from bent plywood, bent laminated birch, and solid birch.

When Greenberg’s Mid-Century Modern was published, the book hit upon a trend that had been steadily growing in the 1980s and that continued to increase in subsequent decades. Laura Fenton, writing for Curbed, points to a number of sources for the enthusiasm, including the launch of such design magazines as Wallpaper* in 1996 and Dwell in 2000, the frequent use of mid-century furniture in 1990s advertisements, and of course the debut of the impeccably designed TV series Mad Men in 2007. She also notes that both Knoll and Herman Miller, two manufacturers of iconic mid-century designs, had a hand in the mid-century revival. In the 1990s both companies began to offer their furniture, which previously had been sold exclusively to trade customers (i.e., designers and architects), directly to consumers. They also reissued pieces that had been out of production, usually with some updates and with a stamp to distinguish the new versions from the earlier models.

The mania for mid-century modern led many companies in the 21st century to sell furniture resembling the style, and those pieces are now seemingly sold everywhere. While such sellers as Target and West Elm often call these pieces “mid-century modern,” they are not. Rather, they are inspired by that style (which does not disqualify some of these designs from being great). Consequently, today’s options to make your living space match Don Draper’s office are seemingly endless: you can buy mid-century modern furniture that’s either antique, reissued, or “inspired by.”