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The above photograph from a 1961 Playboy Magazine article features only a several of the masters of the mid-century modern design, a movement whose practitioners had a large and significant impact on design and décor from the mid 20th century to the present.

This seemingly plain style has a remarkable allure; it’s clean, simple, and functional, and for many it’s a bit nostalgic. Mid-Century Modern, or MCM, is essentially a design style that encompasses interior and furniture design, modernist architecture and industrial design. It is most often associated with the 1950′s although it spanned several decades. It was largely influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright’s principles of nature, simplicity, and organic form combined with industrial advances in materials and construction and elements from both the Bauhaus aesthetic and Industrial movements. Function and form had equal weight in design and there was an emphasis on fulfilling the new needs of the average American and European households.

When talking about Mid-Century Modern its important to mention that there was an American Style and a Scandinavian Style. The Scandinavian aesthetic took the clean lines of modernism and paired them with softer, more traditional properties of wood and innovations in fabrics resulting in what was a familiar and comfortable alethic. These innovative pieces introduced the use of new color combinations such as bright red and gold, blue and green, Scandinavian harvest gold and avocado green and also soft pastels of pink, light yellow, sky blue and turquoise. Black and white checkerboard floors and stark white or brightly colored walls were a popular backdrop to show off the new colors.