Cassina Rennie Argyle

At the turn of the 20th century, the Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh created a singular, wholly original design style that was both lyrical and sleekly modern. Within his architectural schemes for schools, private homes and restaurants, Mackintosh — frequently working in collaboration with his wife, the artist Margaret Macdonald — invented an aesthetic that blends the organic flow of the Art Nouveau style and the honest simplicity of the English Arts & Crafts movement.

Mackintosh was born into a working-class Glasgow family, the fourth of the 11 children of a police clerk and his wife. At age 15, Mackintosh began to take night classes at the Glasgow School of Art — where he would study until 1894 — and the following year started an apprenticeship with local architect John Hutchison.

At the GSA, Mackintosh befriended Macdonald, her sister, Frances, and fellow architecture student Herbert McNair. Together they formed a graphic design team known as the Four, and were admired for their illustrations featuring sinuous botanical forms and sylph-like women. Around the same time, Mackintosh was hired by the architectural firm Honeyman and Keppie. where he drafted the company’s winning design for a new GSA building. The structure, with its brooding, asymmetrical facade punctuated by soaring studio windows, would be his architectural masterwork. By 1900, Mackintosh was designing houses and began the interiors for a group of Glasgow tea parlors in which he and Macdonald would produce some of the most alluring, lushly graphic decors of the era. Mackintosh’s work became widely influential on the continent, particularly among Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser and other members of the Vienna Secession movement.

His work on private homes and tearooms generated the furniture designs for which Mackintosh is best known today. These include the Hill House chair, with its latticed back; the Argyle Street Tea Room chair, which features an oval head rail with a cutout that resembles a bird in flight; and several others — all instantly recognizable for their stunning tall backs.

Mackintosh’s furniture works well in both traditional and modern interiors, though by virtue of both its familiarity and striking lines it tends to stand out. Because he was much more esteemed in Europe than in Britain, relatively few antique Mackintosh works survive, and those that have are museum pieces. Recently produced examples of his designs are widely available — notably, the Italian firm Cassina has been making fine Mackintosh pieces since the early 1970s. As you will see on 1stDibs, the furniture of Charles Rennie Mackintosh is ever intriguing and engaging. His work is a historical touchstone that would be welcome in the home of any modern design aficionado.

Chairs are an indispensable component of your home and office. Can you imagine your life without the vintage, new or antique chairs you love?

With the exception of rocking chairs, the majority of the seating in our homes today — Windsor chairs, chaise longues, wingback chairs — originated in either England or France. Art Nouveau chairs, the style of which also originated in those regions, embraced the inherent magnificence of the natural world with decorative flourishes and refined designs that blended both curved and geometric contour lines. While craftsmanship and styles have evolved in the past century, chairs have had a singular significance in our lives, no matter what your favorite chair looks like.

“The chair is the piece of furniture that is closest to human beings,” said Hans Wegner. The revered Danish cabinetmaker and furniture designer was prolific, having designed nearly 500 chairs over the course of his lifetime. His beloved designs include the Wishbone chair, the wingback Papa Bear chair and many more.

Other designers of Scandinavian modernist chairs introduced new dynamics to this staple with sculptural flowing lines, curvaceous shapes and efficient functionality. The Paimio armchair, Swan chair and Panton chair are vintage works of Finnish and Danish seating that left an indelible mark on the history of good furniture design.

“What works good is better than what looks good, because what works good lasts,” said Ray Eames. 

Visionary polymaths Ray and Charles Eames experimented with bent plywood and fiberglass with the goal of producing affordable furniture for a mass market. Like other celebrated mid-century modern furniture designers of elegant low-profile furnishings — among them Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Finn Juhl — the Eameses considered ergonomic support, durability and cost, all of which should be top of mind when shopping for the perfect chair. The mid-century years yielded many popular chairs.

The Eameses introduced numerous icons for manufacturer Herman Miller, such as the Eames lounge chair and ottoman, molded plywood dining chairs the DCM and DCW (which can be artfully mismatched around your dining table) and a wealth of other treasured pieces for the home and office. 

A good chair anchors us to a place and can become an object of timeless appeal. Take a seat and browse the rich variety of vintage, new and antique chairs on 1stDibs today.