2000-2020: The new timelessness in furniture design

You can't tell from a lot of new furniture whether it's from today or has been around for decades. They suggest a time without time. But how much security can design take?

by Norman Kietzmann, 05.10.2020

In the past two decades, living has reinvented itself. In 2000, the signs were all about retro-futurism. Furniture walked in the footsteps of Space Age design, filled with a belief in progress and optimism that felt right at the dawn of the new millennium. As with the models from the spaceship-crazy sixties and seventies, plastic and poppy colors took center stage. Design in the homes and offices of the new economy was meant to be fun. It possessed something playful and ephemeral. It celebrated the moment, not eternity.

A lot has changed since then. The New Market and the fledgling digital economy were brought down to earth by the 2000 stock market crash. Events such as September 11, 2001 and the 2008 financial crisis reinforced the turn to reason. In parallel, awareness of ecology and sustainability has risen and, at the latest since the Fridays for Future movement in 2018, has become commonplace: Not only in thinking, but also in purchasing decisions.

Sofa and armchairs from the series Clayton (2019), side tables Bob (2019) by Jean-Marie Massaud, bookcase Turner (1963, reissued in 2019) by Gianfranco Frattini. All by Poltrona Frau. Photo: poltrona woman

Quiet all-rounders
Furniture companies know that they can reach customers only if their products can last two, three or more decades. And so, bit by bit, the poppy shapes of the early 2000s have given way to a new design that wants to free itself from the suspicion of the ephemeral. In other words: clear forms that draw on the archetypes of their respective typology and thus leave the momentary behind. They conceal their temporal origin. By giving the impression that they have already existed for several decades, they create confidence.

Whereas home interiors in the sixties were still planned from a single mold, today it is the patchwork idea that counts. New furniture and objects should not be perceived as foreign bodies. Instead, they should blend into any environment as stylistic chameleons. This is also an argument for not allowing the new things to be either obtrusive or ostentatious in their design language. They take a step back in their gesture and are therefore compatible with antiques, heirlooms and flea market finds.

Materials for eternity
Today, to optimize the durability of furniture, the entire materiality is put to the test. While previous generations had no problem with laminated surfaces, the signs now point to authenticity. Natural materials such as solid wood or leather are particularly in demand because they can age gracefully and take on a charming patina. In turbulent and changeable times, everyday life should be grounded with solid values. With increasing digitalization, the need for sensual materials and haptic textures has also risen. Plastics are clearly on the retreat. And if they still exist, it is in the form of biocomposites or based on recycled raw materials.

Marble and other natural stones have long been used not only for kitchen countertops, but it is hard to imagine furniture construction in the last decade without them. Some manufacturers use the heavyweight material for tabletops, others produce massive objects from it, which not only come up with an enormous weight. At the same time, they score points with a biblical lifespan that can amount to several centuries, if not millennia. A stronger signal against the throwaway culture can hardly be set.

Throwback to the 20th century
Timeless design nevertheless faces a problem: it needs to produce something new, but doesn't want to make it look like it. Of course, the wheel cannot be reinvented every day. Unlike in fashion, where the changing seasons cause a constant rotation of collections, successful products in furniture design remain on the market for decades. And increasingly, designs that have lain dormant in the archives for sixty or seventy years are given new life as reeditions. In this way, they give customers the supposed security of purchasing a design that is relevant to design history and not a flash in the pan.

But the new designs must be able to hold their own alongside the classics and new editions. In current furniture and interiors, echoes of fifties modernism, Bauhaus and Art Deco are increasingly being seen. However, the historical models are not adopted verbatim, but refreshed with altered proportions and a new color palette. These hybrids of yesterday and today also largely elude chronological classification. Their strategy resembles wearing a camouflage cap: although they are present, they shy away from clear recognizability.

Moving into the 21st century
Flirting with timelessness while creating visibility sounds like an irresolvable contradiction: especially when many designers and manufacturers follow the same strategy. Certainly, it is good that furniture design shows responsibility with a long-term view to the future. But there can be no such thing as timeless design in the long term. The big party of the millennium may be over. But it still needs a spark that jumps to the user. And this spark - one can also speak of the soul of things - is ignited in the here and now: by a vision that reaches out into the future.

This article is part of the dossier: 2000-2020: 20 years of Interior & Design

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