Mid-century modern is the style that won’t die

In the late 1990s, when mid-century modern furniture was making a comeback, interior designer Brad Dunning and his friends would excitedly call each other whenever they spotted an Eames lounger or another recognizable piece on television. Now, if they did that, they would never get off the phone.

Mid-century modern is “not even a trend anymore — it’s the dominant aesthetic,” says Dunning, who curated an exhibit last year on modern chairs for the Palm Springs Art Museum in California. “It’s either fascinating or depressing that we haven’t replaced [it] with anything better. But it is a marker that those designs were so strong that they have lasted this long.”