Above all, '60s furniture sought to be fun.
Following the deprivation and conservatism of the 1950s -- a time of conservatism brought about by the aftermath of World War II -- the 1960s saw the Western world embrace change, lightness and the challenging of convention. It was evident in music, art, film, television and politics. It also was evident in the radical changes in interior and furniture design. Shaking the formalism of previous decades, designers in the '60s embraced the modern world and its technological progress, as well as taking an irreverent approach to design forebears, happily mixing elements from previously delineated movements, such as art nouveau, Victorian and modernism, to suit their own purposes, usurping the classicism that had dominated pre-war design. Does this Spark an idea?
Material
Arguably, the material that best represents sixties furniture is plastic. It could be moulded, coloured, and mass produced and was inexpensive enough to mean high-class furniture was available to everyone. The quintessential plastic furniture of the era was the S-shaped Verner Panton chair. Moulded from a single piece of plastic, usually in bright, primary colors, and designed to be stacked on one another, they represented the vibrancy, fun and convenience of sixties furniture design.
Color
Following the austerity of the '50s, the '60s erupted in a rainbow of color. Bold splashes of primary color and simple, colorful motifs adorned many furniture designs. Colors were often intended to clash, with pinks teamed with oranges or greens. In fabrics, such as curtains, large repeated patterns were the norm.
Shape
Furniture designers in the sixties sought to move away from conventional notions of what furniture should look like. A chair, for instance, did not necessarily have to have the classic shape of a chair -- four legs, high back. One of the most radical reinventions of the chair was the ball chair designed by Eero Arnio, which resembled an egg with a portion cut out of it so that someone could sit inside. Another popular design of the time was the blow-up plastic chair, made by the designer Zanotta.
Light
Lighting embraced the technological progress seen in the sixties. Neon was a favoured material, and designs often mimicked the shapes of the space age. Chief among these was the lava lamp, the iconic totem of sixties lighting design. Paper lampshades were fashioned for the first time, reflecting the cheap, mass-produced nature of the then-current trend in furniture and interiors.
Tags: furniture design, sixties furniture, technological progress