Herman Miller Vintage Shell Chair

Eames Chair Herman Miller Used

Eames 1970

Mid Century Eames Style Chair

Eames Blue Fiberglass

Eames Shell Chair X Base

Fiberglass Mold

Materials

Metal

$1,299

Restored Herman Miller Eames Fiberglass Rocking Chair

Located in Brooklyn, NY

Restored 1960s Herman Miller Eames chair. Vintage fiberglass shell on later base of steel and wood runners.

Category

Mid-20th Century North American Mid-Century Modern Herman Miller Vintage Shell Chair

Materials

Steel, Chrome

1 Herman Miller Parchment Shell Fiberglass RAR Rocker by Eames

$1,520Sale Price / item|20% Off

1 Herman Miller Parchment Shell Fiberglass RAR Rocker by Eames

By Charles Eames

Located in Pasadena, TX

RAR rocking chair by Charles and Ray Eames and manufactured by Herman Miller.

Category

1970s North American Mid-Century Modern Herman Miller Vintage Shell Chair

Materials

Fiberglass

Charles Eames for Herman Miller Early Pair of Dax Transitional Shell Chairs

$4,950 / set

Charles Eames for Herman Miller Early Pair of Dax Transitional Shell Chairs

By Charles Eames, Herman Miller

Located in Chicago, IL

Excellent early example of a pair of Transitional Herman Miller Dax red/orange armshell chairs. All original.

Category

Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Herman Miller Vintage Shell Chair

Materials

Eames for Herman Miller Shell Chairs

Sold

H 32 in W 21.25 in D 18 in

Eames for Herman Miller Shell Chairs

By Herman Miller

Located in San Francisco, CA

Six upholstered Herman Miller molded fiberglass shell shaped side chairs in original condition.

Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Herman Miller Vintage Shell Chair

Materials

Fiberglass

Black Eames for Herman Miller Shell Chair on Eiffel Base

Sold

H 31 in W 18.5 in D 21 in

Black Eames for Herman Miller Shell Chair on Eiffel Base

By Herman Miller, Charles and Ray Eames

Located in Brooklyn, NY

Original 1960s black fiberglass shell side chair designed by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller.

Category

Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Herman Miller Vintage Shell Chair

Materials

Fiberglass

4 Porcelain White Eames Herman Miller Shell Chairs

Sold

H 31 in W 25 in D 24 in

4 Porcelain White Eames Herman Miller Shell Chairs

Located in Phoenix, AZ

Set of four Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller fiberglass shell chairs from 1960. These examples are in excellent original condition and sit on aluminum h bases.

Category

1960s American Herman Miller Vintage Shell Chair

Materials

Metal

10 Charles Eames Chairs Designed by Herman Miller

Sold

H 26.38 in W 15.75 in D 16.93 in

10 Charles Eames Chairs Designed by Herman Miller

By Herman Miller, Charles Eames

Located in Antwerp, BE

Herman Miller Shell chairs 1975. 10 pieces/3 colors/all in good condition.

Herman Miller Fiberglass Shell Upholstered Swivel Office Desk Chair on Wheels

Sold

H 33.5 in W 25 in

Herman Miller Fiberglass Shell Upholstered Swivel Office Desk Chair on Wheels

By Herman Miller

Located in Philadelphia, PA

Herman Miller fiberglass shell brown upholstered swivel office desk chair on wheels.

Category

1970s North American Mid-Century Modern Herman Miller Vintage Shell Chair

Materials

Metal

8 Eames Herman Miller Fiberglass Shell Chairs Blue

Sold

H 31 in W 18.5 in D 22 in

8 Eames Herman Miller Fiberglass Shell Chairs Blue

By Herman Miller, Charles and Ray Eames

Located in Brooklyn, NY

Lovely set of eight vintage 1960s-era side shells. In excellent condition, with the original gleaming finish, super thready fiberglass, and of course that juicy blue color. Narrow mo...

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1930s Art Deco Raymond Patten Signed Industrial Kitchen Work Table

$2,795

H 31 in W 40.5 in D 25 in

1930s Art Deco Raymond Patten Signed Industrial Kitchen Work Table

Located in Forney, TX

A fabulous original American Art Deco industrial Smartline kitchen work table, designed by Raymond Patten (American, 1897-1948), retailed by International Nickel Company. Patented de...

Category

Early 20th Century American Art Deco Herman Miller Vintage Shell Chair

Materials

Chrome, Enamel, Stainless Steel

H 38.19 in W 51.58 in D 18.9 in

Thonet Sofa No.56

By August Thonet, Thonet

Located in Hronská Breznica, Banskobystrický kraj

Thonet sofa no.56 professionally stained and repolished.

Category

Early 1900s Austrian Vienna Secession Herman Miller Vintage Shell Chair

Materials

Fabric, Bentwood

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Herman Miller Vintage Shell Chair For Sale on 1stDibs

Choose from an assortment of styles, material and more with respect to the herman miller vintage shell chair you’re looking for at 1stDibs. Frequently made of plastic, fiberglass and metal, every herman miller vintage shell chair was constructed with great care. Your living room may not be complete without a herman miller vintage shell chair — find older editions for sale from the 20th Century and newer versions made as recently as the 20th Century. A herman miller vintage shell chair, designed in the Mid-Century Modern or Modern style, is generally a popular piece of furniture. Many designers have produced at least one well-made herman miller vintage shell chair over the years, but those crafted by Charles and Ray Eames, Herman Miller and Charles Eames are often thought to be among the most beautiful.

How Much is a Herman Miller Vintage Shell Chair?

Prices for a herman miller vintage shell chair can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — at 1stDibs, they begin at $240 and can go as high as $8,500, while the average can fetch as much as $1,050.

A Close Look at Mid-century-modern Furniture

Organically shaped, clean-lined and elegantly simple are three terms that well describe vintage mid-century modern furniture. The style, which emerged primarily in the years following World War II, is characterized by pieces that were conceived and made in an energetic, optimistic spirit by creators who believed that good design was an essential part of good living.

ORIGINS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN

Emerged during the mid-20th century
Informed by European modernism, Bauhaus, International style, Scandinavian modernism and Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture
A heyday of innovation in postwar America
Experimentation with new ideas, new materials and new forms flourished in Scandinavia, Italy, the former Czechoslovakia and elsewhere in Europe

CHARACTERISTICS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN

Simplicity, organic forms, clean lines
A blend of neutral and bold Pop art colors
Use of natural and man-made materials — alluring woods such as teak, rosewood and oak; steel, fiberglass and molded plywood
Light-filled spaces with colorful upholstery
Glass walls and an emphasis on the outdoors
Promotion of functionality

MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW

Charles and Ray Eames
Eero Saarinen
Milo Baughman
Florence Knoll
Harry Bertoia
Isamu Noguchi
George Nelson
Danish modernists Hans Wegner and Arne Jacobsen, whose emphasis on natural materials and craftsmanship influenced American designers and vice versa

ICONIC MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNS

VINTAGE MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS

The mid-century modern era saw leagues of postwar American architects and designers animated by new ideas and new technology. The lean, functionalist International-style architecture of Le Corbusier and Bauhaus eminences Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius had been promoted in the United States during the 1930s by Philip Johnson and others. New building techniques, such as “post-and-beam” construction, allowed the International-style schemes to be realized on a small scale in open-plan houses with long walls of glass.

Materials developed for wartime use became available for domestic goods and were incorporated into mid-century modern furniture designs. Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen, who had experimented extensively with molded plywood, eagerly embraced fiberglass for pieces such as the La Chaise and the Womb chair, respectively.

Architect, writer and designer George Nelson created with his team shades for the Bubble lamp using a new translucent polymer skin and, as design director at Herman Miller, recruited the Eameses, Alexander Girard and others for projects at the legendary Michigan furniture manufacturer.

Harry Bertoia and Isamu Noguchi devised chairs and tables built of wire mesh and wire struts. Materials were repurposed too: The Danish-born designer Jens Risom created a line of chairs using surplus parachute straps for webbed seats and backrests.

The Risom lounge chair was among the first pieces of furniture commissioned and produced by celebrated manufacturer Knoll, a chief influencer in the rise of modern design in the United States, thanks to the work of Florence Knoll, the pioneering architect and designer who made the firm a leader in its field. The seating that Knoll created for office spaces — as well as pieces designed by Florence initially for commercial clients — soon became desirable for the home.

As the demand for casual, uncluttered furnishings grew, more mid-century furniture designers caught the spirit.

Classically oriented creators such as Edward Wormley, house designer for Dunbar Inc., offered such pieces as the sinuous Listen to Me chaise; the British expatriate T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings switched gears, creating items such as the tiered, biomorphic Mesa table. There were Young Turks such as Paul McCobb, who designed holistic groups of sleek, blond wood furniture, and Milo Baughman, who espoused a West Coast aesthetic in minimalist teak dining tables and lushly upholstered chairs and sofas with angular steel frames.

Generations turn over, and mid-century modern remains arguably the most popular style going. As the collection of vintage mid-century modern chairs, dressers, coffee tables and other furniture for the living room, dining room, bedroom and elsewhere on 1stDibs demonstrates, this period saw one of the most delightful and dramatic flowerings of creativity in design history.

Materials: Plastic Furniture

Arguably the world’s most ubiquitous man-made material, plastic has impacted nearly every industry. In contemporary spaces, new and vintage plastic furniture is quite popular and its use pairs well with a range of design styles.

From the Italian lighting artisans at Fontana Arte to venturesome Scandinavian modernists such as Verner Panton, who created groundbreaking interiors as much as he did seating — see his revolutionary Panton chair — to contemporary multidisciplinary artists like Faye Toogood, furniture designers have been pushing the boundaries of plastic forever.

When The Graduate's Mr. McGuire proclaimed, “There’s a great future in plastics,” it was more than a laugh line. The iconic quote is an allusion both to society’s reliance on and its love affair with plastic. Before the material became an integral part of our lives — used in everything from clothing to storage to beauty and beyond — people relied on earthly elements for manufacturing, a process as time-consuming as it was costly.

Soon after American inventor John Wesley Hyatt created celluloid, which could mimic luxury products like tortoiseshell and ivory, production hit fever pitch, and the floodgates opened for others to explore plastic’s full potential. The material altered the history of design — mid-century modern legends Charles and Ray Eames, Joe Colombo and Eero Saarinen regularly experimented with plastics in the development of tables and chairs, and today plastic furnishings and decorative objects are seen as often indoors as they are outside.

Find vintage plastic lounge chairs, outdoor furniture, lighting and more on 1stDibs.

Finding the Right Seating for You

With entire areas of our homes reserved for “sitting rooms,” the value of quality antique and vintage seating cannot be overstated.

Fortunately, the design of side chairs, armchairs and other lounge furniture — since what were, quite literally, the early perches of our ancestors — has evolved considerably.

Among the earliest standard seating furniture were stools. Egyptian stools, for example, designed for one person with no seat back, were x-shaped and typically folded to be tucked away. These rudimentary chairs informed the design of Greek and Roman stools, all of which were a long way from Sori Yanagi's Butterfly stool or Alvar Aalto's Stool 60. In the 18th century and earlier, seats with backs and armrests were largely reserved for high nobility.

The seating of today is more inclusive but the style and placement of chairs can still make a statement. Antique desk chairs and armchairs designed in the style of Louis XV, which eventually included painted furniture and were often made of rare woods, feature prominently curved legs as well as Chinese themes and varied ornaments. Much like the thrones of fairy tales and the regency, elegant lounges crafted in the Louis XV style convey wealth and prestige. In the kitchen, the dining chair placed at the head of the table is typically reserved for the head of the household or a revered guest.

Of course, with luxurious vintage or antique furnishings, every chair can seem like the best seat in the house. Whether your preference is stretching out on a plush sofa, such as the Serpentine, designed by Vladimir Kagan, or cozying up in a vintage wingback chair, there is likely to be a comfy classic or contemporary gem for you on 1stDibs.

With respect to the latest obsessions in design, cane seating has been cropping up everywhere, from sleek armchairs to lounge chairs, while bouclé fabric, a staple of modern furniture design, can be seen in mid-century modern, Scandinavian modern and Hollywood Regency furniture styles.

Admirers of the sophisticated craftsmanship and dark woods frequently associated with mid-century modern seating can find timeless furnishings in our expansive collection of lounge chairs, dining chairs and other items — whether they’re vintage editions or alluring official reproductions of iconic designs from the likes of Hans Wegner or from Charles and Ray Eames. Shop our inventory of Egg chairs, designed in 1958 by Arne Jacobsen, the Florence Knoll lounge chair and more.

No matter your style, the collection of unique chairs, sofas and other seating on 1stDibs is surely worthy of a standing ovation.

How Top Designers Are Using Mid-Century Chairs in Today’s Interiors

Modern icons are showing up in gracefully layered dining nooks, living rooms and lounges — proof that great design only gets better with context.

The 21 Most Popular Mid-Century Modern Chairs

You know the designs, now get the stories about how they came to be.

Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Chair Shook Modernism and Charmed Hollywood

The enduring appeal of the Barcelona chair is in the details.

Herman Miller Got Its Start in the Office, but Its Legacy Is in the Home

The brand that turned Charles and Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi and George Nelson into mid-century household names is just as relevant today as it was six decades ago.