Design archive · 1945–1975

Form follows life.

A considered guide to the designers, furniture, buildings and visual ideas that made the mid-century feel modern—and still make it matter.

Abstract geometric forms in the Mid Century Form palette

The archive

Six ways into the period.

Move beyond the same familiar icons. Follow a designer, examine an object, read a building, understand a material or learn how to buy with a more informed eye.

Designers

Profiles, collaborations and overlooked bodies of work.

Furniture & objects

Chairs, lighting, ceramics, glass and the details that distinguish them.

Architecture

Houses, civic buildings, interiors and places to visit.

Materials & making

Timber, plywood, fibreglass, steel and the methods that made new forms possible.

Collecting & buying

Labels, condition, restoration and better-informed purchases.

Visual culture

Graphic design, exhibitions, publishing and the wider image of modern life.

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Start here

Mid-century modern is not one look.

It is a web of regional traditions, industrial methods, social ambitions and individual experiments. Our essential guide gives you a useful map without flattening the differences.

Recently added

Stories with a longer life.

Profiles, field guides and close readings designed to be useful well beyond the week they are published.

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A quiet monthly letter

One object. One building. One designer.

A concise monthly note for people who want to look more closely at twentieth-century design. No daily churn.

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