Our interiors are a representation of the self. It’s in our interior spaces that we keep Grandma’s prized vintage red cocktail glasses. It’s where we explore our own style through collecting vintage and modern pieces. Interiors are where we find time for retrospection and meditation. Your living space is your mentality manifest. Lauded fashion designer Coco Chanel said, “an interior is the natural projection of the soul.” Your home embodies all of your unique talents and virtues. Shouldn’t it be adorned with trinkets and furnishings that fit you?
The Breathing Space: Your Living Room
Finding the right furniture pieces for your space can be tricky. You want something that doesn’t just denote who you are and the things you believe in. You want to design your home with fixtures that are at once modern and novel. “Design is thinking made visual,” and you want your space to show that you appreciate simplicity, organization and color. After all, you’re not someone who follows fashion for fashion’s sake.
In your living space, “what works good is better than what looks good, because what works good lasts.” What’s important to you is quality, modern furniture that channels good design and simple lines. When you sit in your living room to read a book or watch TV, you want the space to swathe you in warm light and balanced organicism. Every living room requires five fixtures to make it a complete interior: an armchair, sofa, coffee table, cabinet and lighting.
Let’s take a quick look at some fine modern furniture pieces that capture the modern aesthetic and your sensible taste.
The Bart Swivel Armchair by Moooi
A company named after the Dutch word for beautiful, Moooi (spelled with an extra ‘o’ to represent the design firm’s promise to make enriching, handsome furniture) works to create designs that encapsulate the modernist’s receptivity and stringent sense of self. The Bart Swivel Armchair allows its user a full range of motion with its pivoting base. With its wood frame and posh leather upholstery, this armchair rests perfectly in the corner of the living room alongside an industrial floor lamp or sleek side table.
The Veleo LED Floor Lamp by Cerno
An industrial design and manufacturing company, Cerno was the brain child of founders Nick Sheridan, Dan Wacholder and Bret Englander. Cerno is a design firm made of engineers and artists who work tirelessly to create modern LED lighting fixtures that aren’t just made of straight lines and industrial materials, but that are environmentally friendly as well. The Veleo LED Floor lamp is the ultimate architectural testimonial. Industrial in construction but natural in its use of decorative grain in its walnut wood frame, the floor lamp lights up your space with a warm, enveloping light. The adjustable shade can stretch across the space and shine a light on objet d’art or your newest book.
The Archive Sofa by Gus Modern
The ambition of the Gus Modern Design company is to “create modern furniture that combines great design with practical purpose.” The Archive Sofa is a striking, versatile interpretation on the mid-century modern aesthetic. The exterior box frame is made of bared plywood finished with a walnut veneer and adorned by brass fittings. With its removable back cushions, the Archive Sofa converts into a lovely daybed, ideal for the modernist who entertains.
The Roy Coffee Table by Domitalia
This Italian furniture design company takes pride in its functional yet simple design pieces. The Roy Coffee Table is made out of medium-density fiberboard (MDF—a material denser than plywood) and coated in wood veneer. Not to be outdone by its sleek, modern simplification, the coffee table also serves as a functional statement piece. The dipped, white corner of the table doubles as a removable tray for serving drinks and snacks to your guests. Plus, the table’s rolling castors allow the user to move the table between furniture and rooms with little to know effort. As Leonardo da Vinci said, “Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication.”
The Corridor Media Cabinet by BDI
Combining functionality and beauty, the Corridor Media Cabinet is a streamlined, elegant piece of contemporary entertainment furniture with modernist roots. The cabinet’s use of louvered wood doors veils electronic wires and boxes while supporting audio and remote control functions without interruption. This is an entertainment center that supports both your style and all of your production needs.
The functionality of a space doesn’t have to inhibit style. Modern furniture is the quintessential luxury for your home.
