Home Furnishings Inspired By Great Designers

Furnishing your home is a very private affair, and although tastes and fashions change there are some items that remain firm favourites throughout the changes. The iconic styles by some of the most famous designers have inspired home furnishings that although may not be authentic adhere to a certain sense of timeless style. We take a look at a few of the world's favourite items to find out why they have become design classics.

Charles and Ray Eames
This design duo were husband and wife and worked on many projects together. They are responsible for an iconic coat hook made from white plastic coated wire and colourful wooded balls. One of their greatest items of home furniture was the Eames Lounge Chair. Coming from an experiment with wood chips and glue through a homemade heat press and mould, the couple sculpted plywood to create a new style of furniture that was emulated by manufacturers of home furnishings the world over. Even school chairs were formed by the same process because it was easy and cheap to mass produce, although the design style was never matched, and an authentic Eames lounge chair remains a valuable item.

Eero Saarinen
The Finnish designer and architect is famed for designing an industrialist classic, The Tulip table and chair. Instantly recognisable, the clean and clear lines of this dining set were made according to a minimalist aesthetic. By reducing the number of legs per item to one, the 'under-table mess' which was deemed unnecessary was eliminated and instead simple shapes allowed the furniture to be a valid aesthetic object in its own right. As far as home furnishings go, this is one of the most widely copied styles, even by fellow designers. The Bombo Stool by Stefano Giovannoni is a design classic in its own right and yet the style is heavily influenced by the aesthetic appeal of Saarinen.

Mies Van Der Rohe
The Barcelona Chair can be seen in the lounge of every hotel, the waiting room of every office and dentist and even in the women's coats reception area at a school, but you can guarantee that it is not an authentic seat bearing the designers signature. Based on the design of folding chairs from many centuries ago, the Barcelona chair is a timeless classic. The modernist design is just as popular today as it was when it was first released back in 1929. Authentic versions are handmade and are available in 200 different types of hide set on either a stainless steel or chrome frame. The simplicity of style makes this a world favourite for unauthorised reproductions.

Eileen Gray
The product name E1027 may not be as memorable as some of the other design classics, but the minute you set eyes on the chrome tubular occasional table with smoked glass top, you know it is a style that has been adored since its conception in the 1920s. Made for her house, also called E-1027, which she shared with architect Le Corbusier the table was designed to be used for romantic breakfasts in bed and formed part of the Bauhaus classic aesthetic all around the house. Replicas of this table are manufactured all over the world, but not to the same dimensions. Its continued popularity is testimony to its title as one of the great classics in home furnishings.