Some Influential Mid-Century Modern Furniture Designers

Although the exact definition varies depending on whom you ask, mid-century modern design is generally accepted to refer to a style that was prevalent from around the mid 1930s through the mid 1960s. It was a boom time for furniture design, among a number of other types of design—including, quite notably, architecture. Furniture companies like Heywood-Wakefield, Herman Miller, and Knoll became synonymous with the style, employing some of the leading mid-century modern furniture designers to create elegant, practical pieces that helped define the aesthetics of the era. If you're interested in learning about home furnishings from the times, below are some of the most important mid-century modern furniture designers. A number of them worked or consulted for Heywood-Wakefield at some point. We've linked to additional information about each designer. Many of the people on our list also worked as architects, industrial designers, and in other design fields, making contributions beyond the world of mid-century modern furniture.

Mid-Century Modern Furniture Designers

• Harry Bertoia

• Charles and Ray Eames

• Alexander Girard

• Eileen Gray

• Arne Jacobsen

• Leo Jiranek – He worked for Heywood-Wakefield, and designed, among other things, our popular Rio bedroom series, including the C 3790 Rio Bed that's offered in our current catalog.

• George Nelson

• Isamu Noguchi

• Verner Panton

• Jens Risom

• Gilbert Rohde – A compact armless leatherette side chair with bentwood rear legs designed by Rohde was one of Heywood-Wakefield's best-selling pieces in the 1930s.

• Eero Saarinen

• Edward Wormley

• Russel Wright – Wright designed Heywood-Wakefield's first sectional sofa, which was introduced at Bloomingdale's in the mid 1930s