To supplement our extensive furniture range, here at Beautiful Modern Thing we aim to give our customers an insight into the compelling historiography in which contemporary furniture design has enacted. The turn of the twentieth century marked a new stage in furniture design, the diversity of materials used and the production techniques implemented strongly contrasted to that of past periods. The use of plywood, plastics and tubular steel allowed designers to mould these new materials into new shapes and curves that would become essential in capturing the essence of contemporariness. The defining shift from ornate, decorative and elaborate designs to more sleek and modern ones signified a new radical approach to interior design. Iconic designers, such as Charles and Ray Eames and Verner Panton, began to focus on form and function and the new theory that less is more, lines became cleaner and designs simpler which enabled furniture to complement a room rather than overwhelm it. Contemporary design became the century's new innovative forte that fostered a range of new styles that combined simplistic design and practicality which where replicated in architecture and more importantly, furniture.

As the Bauhaus school of art and design (1919-1933) provided the nucleus for German Modernism in contemporary design. Bauhaus can be considered one of the most potent symbols in twentieth century design as its ideas, methodologies and styles are virtually synonymous with Modernism. The Purist movement in Paris brought the extremely influential architect designer Charles Edouard Jeanneret or Le Corbusier, as he was known, into the public light. Both these movements held exhibitions and created prototype objects that were to become some of the pioneering pieces of the era. The fundamental concern of the Modernist movement was to breakdown the barrier between aesthetics, technics and society, to enable an appropriate design of the highest visual and practical quality to be produced for the majority of the population. (The decompartmentalisation of human experience was the single most important ideal in Modernism.)

The introduction of open plan living encompassed an 'out with the old and in with the new' philosophy which saw abstract and geometric patterns flourish. The 1950s particularly took inspiration from the American diner in regards to colour; reds, greens, yellows and ice cream shades such as bubblegum pink and pale blue took form on pieces of furniture along with sprigged florals set against polka dots or stripes. This coincided with science inspired imagery such as starbursts or atoms. The 1960s took influence from the Art Nouveau, with its whiplash lines and and stylised flower shapes, and combined it with notions of the space age. This is reflected through the use of huge repeat and psychedelic patterns on fabric and the capsule or pod shaped furniture which became popular at this time. Clashing colours took form, particularly black and white, along with swirls of oranges and purples. This all was replicated by the use of 'op art' in interiors during this period. The 1970s saw furniture become larger and chunkier, armchairs and sofas were more frequently upholstered; large padded sausage shaped furniture was significant to the Seventies. Wood materials such as pine and teak were more regularly seen with the emphasis being on a country cottage homeliness. This was reinforced by autumn colours being in vogue such as browns, beiges, golds and creams.