In the US, I’m seeing Midcentury modern stores popping up all over the place. It’s especially a popular style of furniture with Millennials and older Gen Z. Was curious if this is an international trend or only something unique to North America.

7 comments

  1. It has been popular in Denmark since … well … the middle of the last century.

    A thing a lot of Danes take pride in, is the Danish design tradition, and particularly Danish modern architecture (which in this case involves lamps, chairs, and so-on.) So a lot of Danes have a lot of “mid century” furniture, though it isn’t perceived as a distinct style of mid-centurian design, but rather, as design classics, fitting for any time period. Lamps like PH 5 by Poul Henningsen, chairs like _8’eren_ og _Myren_ by Arne Jacobsen, and shelfing-units like Royal by Poul Cadovius, are all very popular (and widely copied,) in Denmark.

    But again: it’s not seen as distinctly “mid century modern,” but as “classics.”

  2. To begin with, 99,9% of Spaniards don’t know what that means. And I don’t think that style or something close to it is remotely popular here outside of a very tiny minority of designer/architect types. I mean, IKEA is the default these days, so I guess you could accidentaly end up with a Midcentury-ish room or corner if you throw some old/vintage, plants and replica chairs in the mix.

    Most expensive/high end design that I see seems more inspired in Italian design.

  3. After googling what “midcentury modern furniture” is, I’d rather call that “classic Scandinavian design”, which has been popular here for quite a few years already.

    In general, I’d say that the US (and probably other countries too) seems to be lagging behind Northern Europe when it comes to interior and design, and often seem to jump onto a trend when we’re about to move on to the next one.

    For example, back in the day when white shabby chic/farmhouse etc. was all the rage, the US (at least according to renovation shows and social media) seemed to jump on that bandwagon when we were already moving on to the horrid “everything should be gray” era. And when we finally started re-discovering colors again (along with the classic Scandinavian design), the US started making everything gray. And so on and so forth.

  4. I would argue mid century modern furniture never really went away. It has had massive influence on contemporary designs. Maybe the materials changed but the clean, geometric aesthetics are part of the design culture now.

    You can see this influence especially in the vaunted “scandinavian” design. Personally I very much enjoy this style, minimal decoration and natural materials make for a very pleasant home.

    My apartment has all contemporary furniture but if you took a picture and put in the midcentury subreddit you’d get all upvotes. I have a few retro touches in it but that’s it. Also I have a few pieces of furniture that have been produced continuously from the 50s when they were designed.

  5. In UK it’s been super popular with the middle class and on up for the past almost 40 years, so relatively speaking, kinda forever, so **not a new ting at all in the UK**.

    UK 1955
    In the UK -at mid-century- there were UK designers (doing furniture ‘akin’ to the Scandis and the Eames couple) who were ‘not bad’ but nowhere near their league.

    UK 1965-1975
    Only a wee bit, pushed by only one guy, one importer [Terence Conran]

    UK 1985
    Still out of the loop. Laura Ashley was the thing, the style being way more dominant

    UK 1990 1995
    This is when it finally really kicked off, tho hardly nationwide. The property boom ignited everything M20C stylistically, and monetarily…

    UK 1995-2025
    [These](https://www.themodernhouse.com/journal/all/) sons of bi…. I mean sons of architects, really took it UP to another level

  6. I was wondering, what the hell is midcentury modern? Then I goodled it an a couch similar to the one I bought last year popped up.

    So I guess, yes, it is still popular. But I don’t see folks decorating an entire room like it.

  7. Yeah it’s been a thing in the Netherlands for years now and in the past decade it really took off, to the point where second hand original pieces cost a fortune now.

    I’m lucky I jumped on the bandwagon relatively early and got a few nice pieces for a reasonable price.

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