Repro retro kitchen wall clocks take your kitchen from dullsville to swell city in a New . . . → Read More: Kitchen Wall Clocks: Big Bang For Your Retro Buck]]>
Kitchen wall clocksare icons of retro. In the 50′s and 60′s, the home-cooked meal was king, and big, bold, feel-good decor was the order of the day. Kitchen wall clocks naturally became the must-have mood-setters in any well dressed home.

Repro retro kitchen wall clocks take your kitchen from dullsville to swell city in a New York minute. These babies add personality and flair to spare – and at a reasonable price! So go on and hipster-up that kitchen – save the square for your meals.

Without a doubt one of the most whimsical kitchen wall clocks of the era, the Spoon and Fork Kitchen Wall Clockwas the creation of American Modern design whiz-kid George Nelson. Festooned with gleaming forks and spoons arranged in a super-retro starburst pattern, it rolls “wholesome” and “bizarre” up into one stylin’ package. These kitchen wall clocks are sure conversation pieces, and look especially eye-catching in kitchens where stainless steel is a strong design element.

Talk about bang for your retro buck – Amazon’s selling these for a ridiculously low price. Click here to check out the Spoon and Fork Kitchen Wall Clockon Amazon.

Another knockout is the Metal Kitchen Wall Clock With Wooden Balls,also a Nelson design.This festive tribute to the Atomic Age is light-hearted and fun, yet styled with sophistication – not an easy balance to strike. These add va-va-voom to any room, but work especially well as kitchen wall clocks – the Atomic design is simple yet very clever, and the multi-colored balls compliment any color scheme. And if you’re doing classic black and white, this is the exact piece you need to give your kitchen a shot of ka-pow.

These are another of Amazon’s bargain treasures. Click here to check out the Metal Kitchen Wall Clock With Wooden Ballson Amazon.

For an unmistakably retro look, the Bai Retro Kitchen Wall Clockhas a comfortable, casual style. This kitchen wall clock is all about the details; the numbers have a friendly, slightly old-fashioned look, the hands taper gently to the center, and there’s even a built-in one hour timer for all your cooking needs. Talk about domestic bliss! Best of all, it comes in a variety of red-hot retro colors. Whether you’re looking for bold contrast or a perfect match, there’s sure to be a Bai Retro Kitchen Wall Clockin a shade that tickles your fancy.

Amazon sells these at a low, low price, perfect for those who need to stretch their retro decorating buck. Click here to check out the Bai Retro Kitchen Wall Clockon Amazon.

If high drama is more your style, the Starburst Retro Kitchen Wall Clockis just what Dr. Retro ordered. Its distinctive atomic starburst styling and polished metal finish make it an American Modern-inspired classic. This is a retro piece which hints at the owner’s sophistication; could something stronger than cookies and cold milk be on the midnight snack menu? A kitchen wall clock like this adds a delicately urbane accent to pastel color schemes, looks at home amongst cool grays and blacks, and hangs confidently in the company of jet-set colors.

The intricate design adds a few more dollars to this bold beauty’s price tag, but even so, it’s cost is modest. Click here to check out the Starburst Retro Kitchen Wall Clockon Amazon.

If you like your retro done surreal, the Kit-Cat Kitchen Wall Clockis made to order for you. First manufactured by Portland, Oregon’s California Clock Company, Kit-Cat clocks were introduced as a Decco-style novelty in the 30′s, and maintained popularity into the 50′s. High-quality reproductions are now available for new generations of people cool enough to have a wild-eyed, grinning black cat watching their every kitchen move. The classic Kit-Cat is the perfect kitchen wall clock for fans of early retro, and looks at home in any vintage color scheme.

You can’t get much more personality for your decorating dollar than the Kit-Cat. Click here to check out the Kit-Cat Kitchen Wall Clockon Amazon.

Inspired by the designs of the 1950s and 60s, Retro Modern furniture works beautifully in today’s home. Its clean, unfussy look is amazingly versatile, making it a perfect choice for a chic urban apartment or a kid-friendly family room.

The Spirit . . . → Read More: Retro Modern Furniture]]> Sleek lines, innovative design, and a focus on stylish usability make Retro Modern furniture styles true classics.

Inspired by the designs of the 1950s and 60s, Retro Modern furniture works beautifully in today’s home. Its clean, unfussy look is amazingly versatile, making it a perfect choice for a chic urban apartment or a kid-friendly family room.

The Spirit of the Post War Years
The designs of the fifties were a reflection of the times. The post-war years were filled with a sense of enthusiastic optimism about the future, breaking with the past and embracing all things new. The overall aesthetic of the period was one of informality and simplicity, a radical departure from the heavy, ornate formality and traditionalism of the pre-war period.

The Retro Modern furniture style reflects the best of the mid century era, creating a unique combination of sophisticated style and sensible comfort.

Characteristics of Retro Modern Style

- Clean lines: The hallmark of Retro Modern style is a sleek and streamlined look. The simple yet polished lines create a sense of airiness and visual space that really epitomize the modern aesthetic.

- Minimum of embellishment: Retro Modern furniture design is spare and uncluttered, with none of the overstuffed cushions, carved trim, fringe, deeply draped fabrics and other elaborate embellishments typical of traditional pre-war decor. The less-is-more sensibility of retro modern emphasizes shapes and materials, highlighting design rather than decoration.

- Innovative use of materials: The designs of the fifties and sixties celebrated the new materials and technologies that were transforming everyday life. Fiberglass, plastics, and gleaming metal were shaped, molded, and sculpted into bold new forms impossible to achieve with traditional materials and construction. Even the use of wood changed radically, moving away from dark tones to lighter, more neutral shades. Retro modern furniture accentuates the grain of woods like teak, showcasing their natural beauty.

- Curves and asymmetry: The juxtaposition of sharp angles and sensuous curves creates an exciting dynamic in retro modern furniture, as does the use of asymmetrical shapes.

- Clear, bright colors: Non-traditional shades like aqua, pink, tangerine, turquoise, and sunny yellow were extremely popular during the mid century period. Cheerful, high-energy colors with black and/or white accents were used in everything from wallpaper to upholstery, both as solids and combined in abstract prints.

- Usability-focused design: One of the factors that make retro modern furniture design an enduring classic is its focus on usability. The feel is smart and sophisticated without look-but-don’t-touch formality, and the clean, simple lines make both calming and friendly. Retro modern furniture offers a combination of high performance and low maintenance that’s ideal for today’s busy lifestyle.

The swivel chair was actually invented by in the 18th century by Thomas Jefferson, but until the 1950s it was generally used in office furniture . . . → Read More: Retro Swivel Chair]]>
The modern retro swivel chair is an enduring icon of mid-century decor. But though its many variations are all symbols of the period, they’re also perfect in today’s home.

The swivel chair was actually invented by in the 18th century by Thomas Jefferson, but until the 1950s it was generally used in office furniture only and rarely seen in the home.

The mid century modern design aesthetic of convenience, comfort, and streamlined efficiency made the swivel style a natural, however, and retro decorating featured swivel chair for everything from lounging to dining.

Sleek lines, innovative use of materials, and streamlined design are the earmarks of retro modern design, and the swivel chairs that gained great popularity during the period are excellent examples.

Arne Jacobsen Egg Chair
Designed by famed Danish modern furniture creator Arne Jacobson in the late 1950s, the Arne Jacobsen Egg Chair remains a classic style that has never lost its popularity.

Jacobsen was known for spare, no-nonsense designs that used materials in new and exciting ways, and the Egg Chair is one of his finest and most well-known designs.

Combining the gleam and sparkle of the steel swivel base with smooth upholstery in bright eye-popping primary colors, the Egg Chair is built on a curving steel framework that gently hugs the user.

Eames Lounge Chair
The swivel lounge chair created by modern furniture designers Charles and Ray Eames has become a true design classic. It has the rare distinction of being recognized by organizations like New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Design Institute of Chicago, but it also remains a consumer favorite.

When it was first introduced in the 1950s, everything about the chair was revolutionary, from its sleek modern shape to its molded wood construction. But though it was on the cutting edge of modern design, the Eames Swivel Lounge Chair was developed with comfort and usability in mind. Charles Eames said he wanted the chair to be “a special refuge from the strains of modern living”.

The shell of the classic style is made of molded wood, meticulously finished to highlight the natural grain. Cushioned with smooth and supple leather, the shape is sleek yet enveloping. The design of the Eames Lounge Chair is absolutely timeless, fitting in perfectly with today’s decor.

Eero Aarnio’s Ball Chair
The Ball Chair is one of the most iconic of all retro modern furniture designs. Created in 1966 by Eero Aarnio, the Ball Chair takes the body-hugging design of the Eames and Egg chairs a step further.

The hollow-ball shell of the chair, which is set on a swivel pedestal, completely envelops the user. The design radically expanded the concept of what furniture can be and do, by using a chair to create a private “space within a space”.

The shells of the original Ball Chairs were made of fiberglass, with the inside upholstered in bright primary colors.

No accessory evokes . . . → Read More: Retro Wall Clocks]]>
Big, bold, and beautiful, retro wall clocks can give any room a dramatic accent of mid century modern style. Whether it’s a work of art in glittering metal or a futuristic starburst, a supersized circle clock, or even a whimsical cartoon character, a retro wall clock can compliment any modern decor.

No accessory evokes the retro aura like an oversize wall clock, and no designer was more influential in creating the clocks of the era than George Nelson. Recognized as one of the founding fathers of American Modernism, Nelson designed over 150 clocks for the prestigious Howard Miller Company during the midcentury years. The timeless style of his designs make them not only retro classics, but perennial favorites that continue to be popular today. Here are just a few of the most well known and well loved George Nelson clock designs:

Sunburst Wall Clocks
The clean, uncluttered lines of mid century modern decor call out for a simple yet dramatic accent, which is exactly what Nelson’s stunning sunburst clocks provide. Created in a variety of materials from gleaming silver steel to warm brass and even painted or varnished wood, Nelson’s sunburst clocks were big, bold works of art that filled a lot of wall space and made an emphatically modern statement. The classic Sunburst Clocks feature a small and simple clock face, from which a halo of rays emerges. This basic design is available is almost endless varieties, including brass, mirrored silver, multicolor wood, and varnished wood. For more information on George Nelson Sunburst Clocks on Amazon, click here.

Ball Wall Clocks
Among Nelson’s best known wall clocks is the series of Ball Wall Clocks, a futuristic design in which the clock face was surrounded by a tubular metal rays, each topped with a colored ball. Variations on the original ball clock theme feature balls in a single color, as well as metallic balls. This “atomic” look, a lighthearted reflection of the mid century period’s new interest in science and technology, remains very popular today. For more information on George Nelson Ball Clocks from Amazon, click here.


Starburst Wall Clocks
Nelson’s Starburst Wall Clocks are similar to his Sunburst clocks in size and impact, with a relatively small clock face surmounted by a halo of geometric rays.  Many of Nelson’s Starburst Clock designs feature oversize hands and a minimalist or even blank clock face. Among the most memorable and classic of his Starburst designs are those that incorporated varnished wood accents. For more information on George Nelson Starburst Clocks from Amazon, click here.

Asterisk Clocks
The whimsical side of retro modern design is the essence of Nelson’s Asterisk Clocks. Sometimes made of wood or metal but most often found in fiberglass, plastic, or other man made materials, the classic Asterisk Clock designs generally include contrasting oversized hands and a blank clock “face” with no numbers. This style was enormously popular during the mid century period and remains a favorite with today’s decorators as well. Asterisk Clocks make a minimalist statement that’s simple, sophisticated, and fun. For more information on George Nelson Asterisk Clocks from Amazon, click here.

Eye Clock
For real retro fans, George Nelson’s Eye Clock is a must-have. This iconic clock style features a clock “face” created on the outline of the human eye. For more information on George Nelson Eye Clocks from Amazon, click here.

Nelson’s remarkable career spanned . . . → Read More: Retro Modern Furniture Designers: George Nelson]]> You may not be familiar with the name George Nelson, but if you like retro modern furniture styles you’re almost certainly a fan of his work. Universally recognized as one of the founding fathers of modernism, Nelson created designs that forever changed how people relate to their homes and the objects in them.

Nelson’s remarkable career spanned 50 years and included success as an architect, author, publisher, teacher, and designer. His work was based on the perspective of finding solutions to the problems of modern life, and the concepts on which he based his designs remain as popular and vital today as they were during the mid century years.

Though remembered by most for his enduring designs in home furnishings and accessories, Nelson actually played a seminal role in developing the modern view of what a home is and how it should work. In his book “Tomorrow’s House”, which he co-authored with Henry Wright, he introduced the concept of the family room.

He also pioneered the idea of the storage wall, forever changing the way we utilize interior spaces. Creating modular wall storage provided a way for homeowners to revel in post-war prosperity while maintaining the clean, uncluttered look characteristic of modernism.

However the remarkable furniture and accessories Nelson designed remain his most lasting legacy. Working with the renowned Herman Miller company throughout the mid century period, Nelson introduced a totally new way of looking at home furnishing. His designs combined the sleek, uncluttered simplicity of modernism with a whimsical touch all his own.

Many of Nelson’s most famous designs remain as popular today as they were during the mid-century period. Some of his best-known designs, like the ones shown below, continue to be manufactured and are available through leading retailers.

The Marshmallow Sofa
Created for Herman Miller in 1956, the Marshmallow Sofa became one of the icons of the period. Created of 18 apparently free-floating cushions strategically affixed to a streamlined metal frame, the sofa combined comfort and efficiency in a revolutionary new style.

This lighthearted take on seating, which was one of the forerunners of the 1960s pop art movement, is still manufactured today.

The Coconut Chair
The iconic Coconut Chair, also created for Herman Miller and introduced in the mid-fifties, is among Nelson’s best known designs. Named for its resemblance to a quartered coconut, the chair consists of a curved, cushioned triangular shell perched on a simple metal framework.

A complete departure from pre-war furniture styles, the Coconut Chair introduced the sleek lines and minimalist aesthetic that became the hallmark of mid-century design. The chair’s remarkable comfort makes it a perennial retro modern furniture favorite, and its simple styling makes it a perfect addition to any modern room.

The Nelson Bench
The Nelson Bench, a precise geometric arrangement of pale wood slats on an open yet sturdy square base, was introduced in 1948. A true multipurpose design, the bench could serve as seating, platform, or table, and was constructed to provide maximum durability and efficiency while maintaining a light and airy look. The Nelson Bench is a ubiquitous part of both public and private decor today.

Nelson’s innovative designs in home accessories, particularly his oversized, stylized wall clocks, quickly became icons of retro modern furniture and mid century style. His Sunburst Clocks, Starburst Clocks, and Ball Clocks are still widely available.

From the time of their marriage in 1941 until Charles Eames’ death in 1977, the couple collaborated in a wide . . . → Read More: Retro Modern Furniture Designers: Charles & Ray Eames]]> Few designers have been more influential in shaping decorating trends than husband and wife team Charles and Ray-Bernice Eames, whose innovative concepts and creations helped lay the foundation for today’s retro modern furniture.

From the time of their marriage in 1941 until Charles Eames’ death in 1977, the couple collaborated in a wide variety of groundbreaking modernist projects, ranging from architecture and design to photography, exhibitions, and even film production. Their documentary film “The Power of Ten” has been selected by the US Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Among their best known collaborations was the Eames House, built in 1941 as part of an Art & Architecture Magazine case study. The house, which was hand-built in a matter of days using only prefabricated steel parts originally intended for industrial construction, has been recognized as one of the milestones of modernist architecture.

But though Charles and Ray Eames were acclaimed in the fields of art and architecture, their most lasting legacy is in the design and creation of truly modern furniture. Their work was inspired by a design philosophy based on the combination of actuality and functionality; according to Charles Eames, “Recognizing the need is the primary criteria for design”.

For more than 40 years the couple worked to fill the need for furniture that was versatile, attractive, and high quality, but which could also be quickly and easily mass-produced to make it affordable for the average consumer. Many of their most well-known projects focused on designing seating that was shaped and molded to accommodate the human body, offering comfort without the need for cushions and upholstery.

Eames Molded Plywood Lounge Wood Chair

The Eames Molded Plywood Lounge Wood Chair, introduced in 1946, was among their earliest creations. Its unique combination of style, comfort, and functionality made it an instant hit and the well-thought-out manufacturing process kept it affordable. Many variations inspired by the Eames molded plywood chair are still in production, and the chair remains a classic of retro modern furniture design.

After the introduction of the molded plywood chair the Eames continued to design molded chairs, using stamped aluminum and wire mesh in innovative ways and experimenting with new materials as well. Their goal of a creating a chair with a molded single-piece shell that was comfortable without upholstery or padding was realized in the 1950s, with the production of shells made of fiberglass-reinforced plastic.

Lightweight, versatile, and affordable, the molded plastic chair has become a design standard and many variations are in production today.

Eames Style Modern Lounge Chair and Ottoman

One of the Eames most famous designs is the Eames Style Modern Lounge Chair and Ottoman. With a body of molded plywood and deep leather cushions set on a broad swivel base, the Eames Lounge Chair has a sleek yet enveloping style that offers maximum comfort.

Charles Eames said he wanted the chair to be “a refuge from the strains of modern living”, and his design achieves precisely that. Shaped and styled to be roomy and stable, the molded wood structure provides plenty of support and the deep cushions invite relaxation. For more than half a century this design classic has been in production, and it remains a true classic of retro modern design.