Moving in Mid-Century Modern Style: A Guide for Design Lovers
Every house or apartment relocation, which can be an ordeal for individuals and businesses alike, makes me think about the essence of our business, namely the furniture itself. Especially about their dimensions and weight, and how these have changed over the centuries.
Here, it is impossible not to praise the mid-century modern style for its lightness and human-friendly proportions, which I’ll describe below. I will also talk a little about transporting and packing furniture, and pass on some suggestions for carriers in Europe. And, finally, some tips on packing and choosing a transportation company.
WE ARE MOVING
Our existing building was undergoing a total renovation and repositioning, so we needed to relocate. In the furniture business, there is nothing worse than moving. I budgeted one or even two months to pack, haul, and unpack several hundred pieces of furniture, an entire workshop of machines, several thousand screws, minor keys, hinges, and much more. I felt completely overwhelmed.
The only positive thing about this situation was that we needed expansion space, and this allowed us to find a larger space. Unfortunately, I buy furniture almost compulsively and always import more than planned. Simply put, when I like something, I can’t help myself. The positive aspect of this addiction is that from the initial dozen or so pieces of furniture, it has grown to more than 400 in a few years, a solid showroom.
I tried to stay as positive as possible and began looking more closely at our furniture, assessing the proportions and ability to fit in transport. In mid-century modern style furniture, portability is inherent.
MID-CENTURY MODERN-LIGHT AND TIMELESS
One of the most important features of this furniture is lightness. The techniques by which they were made allowed them to achieve beautiful forms while maintaining a reasonable weight. This distinguishes them significantly from furniture produced before World War II and antiques from previous eras. Several factors influenced this.
Bauhaus
First, the overwhelming influence on mid-century modern furniture was the Bauhaus school and the trend toward design functionality. It is to the Bauhaus pioneers, their hard work and ingenuity, that we owe the reproportioning of furniture to human size. To determine modern furniture form, functionalists measured the size of plates, bowls, the reach of human hands, the size of books, etc. Interestingly, they also designed apartments in the same way.
Stripping design of ornamentation may not seem revolutionary to modern sensibilities, but in in the 1920s and 1930s Bauhaus was absolutely avant-garde and controversial, and yet its brilliance slowly and inexorably penetrated industrial and popular design. In the Bauhaus, I see the roots of many modern European design schools.
Few people remember when Bauhaus had just arrived under the thatched roofs of European homes. A few years ago in France, I came across a desk by Marcel Breuer, with an interesting story told to me by a vendor. 
His grandfather, enthralled with the new furniture trend, bought an S 285 desk in the early
1930s. He brought it home, and his grandmother said it was only suitable for the garage or the basement because it certainly wouldn’t stand in her house. Grandpa had to carry the desk to the garage, where it had waited for me for years. Fortunately, it was in good condition.
This is consistent with the reception the Bauhaus had in its early days. Its ideas were still too pioneering, even though the essence of its design was ingeniously adapted to the modern world. It was only with time that rational, minimal use of materials, matching human proportions and dimensions, became commonplace in the design of utilitarian objects.
Demographic changes
The post-war reconstruction of Europe, and the huge demographic growth that followed (which we can now dream about), triggered a huge demand for simple, solid, lightweight, and utilitarian furniture.
Europe became a bit more populous and democratic, with large state-owned housing projects, following the ideas of Le Corbusier. The housing supply, strained by wartime destruction, was not large enough to accommodate new generations of Europeans, which determined the demand for small-sized furniture.
Brilliant designers and overall production environment
Let us remember that this was also a time of prosperity and peace. After World War II’s enormous wreckage and barbarity, this was a time of reconstruction, remarkable optimism, and faith in humanity (we are still talking about Europe and the US, of course).
Science and industrial engineering also experienced a golden era. Raw materials sourced locally, as well as those imported from far corners of the world, were relatively inexpensive. This is what personally captivates me about this furniture: the atmosphere of peaceful and optimistic times can be seen in the precision of workmanship, attention to detail, quality of materials used, and ingenious simplicity.
MID-CENTURY MODERN AND THE FUTURE OF FURNITURE MAKING
The mid-century modern style still fits perfectly with contemporary lifestyles. We live primarily in large cities, and many move once every few years. It is very difficult in such conditions to accumulate furniture that weighs 100–200 kg each. Practically speaking, you can only have one such item. Hence, the trend of so-called disposable furniture influences people to throw it away after leaving the apartment. An unfortunate and thoughtless fashion.
The market will soon respond more strongly to this state of affairs. That furniture with a short expiration date will, in the future, be made of one type of material, such as plastic. It will only be able to function in a closed loop, provided that the materials are completely recoverable of the materials. For example, they can be melted down and poured into the same molds repeatedly, or it could be the creation of new furniture from ground-up old furniture or bits of it.
Production will become increasingly expensive. Developing countries no longer want to produce for pennies, and quite a few of them are already economically among the developed countries (such as China, for example). Waste disposal and landfilling are also getting unfeasibly expensive. Concentrations of garbage are growing alarmingly, and insufficient space exists for them.
Therefore, furniture that is currently cheaply mass produced will become more and more expensive to fabricate and handle. They can take different forms, but the buy-and-toss scheme for trash has already rather exhausted us. With more than eight billion people living on Earth, single-use items have never been a good idea.
I predict that in the near future, wood will become a very luxurious material. In the last decade, prices for the most popular species like oak, walnut, and teak have doubled or even tripled. Some species are no longer available because they have been placed under strict protection. These include Rio rosewood, Honduran mahogany, and several others.
For example, most historic Danish teak furniture could not now be produced, not only because of the intricacy of the carpentry but more because of the price of teak—it would simply be unprofitable to produce at a price of approximately €15,000 per cubic meter. Even pine has become much more expensive, and we are just now seeing a renaissance of pine furniture on the market. And not from Oregon pine, which has always been expensive, but from ordinary pine. This is shocking—purists like me consider pine more of a building material.
Wood is becoming scarcer and more precious. So, he is deeply mistaken if someone would like to accuse me of having something against antiques made of, for example, solid oak or walnut. I adore them, but I wouldn’t want to just wear them.
EXAMPLES OF DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE
Let’s look at the importance of exemplary mid-century modern furniture. Many can be carried into the apartment yourself, even to a top-floor walk-up.
This type of Danish dresser weighs between 18 and 25 kg:
Source: Futureantiques.com
To move, we take out the drawers and unscrew the legs. The body itself weighs several kilos. We first bring in the body itself without drawers. At this time, our best friend or spouse, delighted with the purchase, brings up the drawers.
The folding table, which can seat eight or even ten people, weighs about 40 kg.
Źródło: Futureantiques.com
The legs turn, and the middle leaves are easy to put in and remove. With a bit of strength, the main top can be moved by itself, and the rest of the pieces can be left for the husband, who had declared that he would not carry any furniture, especially on the weekend.
This type of sideboard, which is quite large with a width of about 2 m, weighs more, about 50-60 kg, and requires two people to carry it. At this size, it’s still quite a friendly weight because, for example, an art dec buffet of similar length and only 20-30 years older already weighs more than 100kg.
Source: Futureantiques.eu
Mid-century modern armchairs weigh about 10–15 kg. For example, the famous Pernilla chair designed by Bruno Mathsson, which is without a mattress, weighs less than 10 kg. Armchairs of this period are characterized by lightness. The ones below also weigh less than 10 kg without cushions.
Source: Futureantiques.eu
The full-wall bookcase you see below weighs less than 50 kg and can be disassembled into parts.
Source: Futureantiques.eu
The best example of lightweight furniture in the mid-century modern style is the chair Superleggera from the early 1950s, designed by Gio Ponti, which weighs 1.7 kg! However, I don’t want to give the impression that I only recommend lightweight furniture or that which is easily disassembled. I just want to show that mid-century style items modern. Despite the passage of more than 60 years, they are ideally suited to modern society in the second decade of the 21st century, and they are high-quality and durable. They meet our expectations aesthetically and allow us to have several pieces of furniture for life, which we can move without high costs or even an extensive database of transport companies.
PACKAGING AND TRANSPORTING FURNITURE—SOME PRACTICAL ADVICE
Transportation itself is crucial. We must adequately secure and protect the furniture. Otherwise, we will face costly and time-consuming restoration and, sometimes, complete destruction of our gems. If we are transporting furniture ourselves, I recommend buying moving blankets. We can also protect the furniture with ordinary blankets, bubble wrap, cardboard boxes, or even an old quilt. (Let’s check that the blankets and cardboard boxes are clean and that there’s no sand or crumbs on them; a dirty blanket can scratch a piece of furniture quite severely.) Make sure that the load will not move in the vehicle over bumps or during braking. This is extremely important.
Since we regularly ship all over the world, we’ve fine-tuned protocols and choices of materials. We know all the potentially vulnerable parts of the furniture we ship, as well as potential weaknesses in packaging materials and the transportation process generally—so, we pack in specially made cartons and only use logistics companies suitable for our products. However, if you are packing furniture for the first time, be like a persistent, patient craftsman in the Japanese traditions. Also, choose your transportation company well.
Keep in mind that the friend with the pick-up truck may not answer the phone and might think it’s suspicious to suddenly get a call after so many years. So who should you hire, and where should you find them? Fortunately, many companies are on the market, and there is no problem nowadays with transportation around Poland and Europe. However, we advise choosing carefully—which is further complicated since many good companies are correspondingly busy with orders from regular customers.
After more than a decade of transporting furniture, whenever someone new comes to pick-up packages, I immediately know whether it is a professional company or not. We rarely work with random carriers, but sometimes (especially on exotic long-distance routes) we have no choice. However, how we secure the furniture and sign documentation can be crucial later.
I’ll give you some hints on where to start and what to avoid. Follow the referral trail and check if some friends have already used this service. Although it sounds clichéd, it’s best to ask around.
TRANSPORT COMPANIES
We permanently cooperate with many carriers in Poland and Europe. It is impossible to list them all, but I can in good conscience recommend these: MD Trans Szczecin. Transports are in Poland and Europe, especially France, Benelux, and Germany. mdtransszczecin@wp.pl. This company made our last move, so they do not fear challenges. However, please remember that they deal with transporting art and valuable furniture. Magic Movers. This is a rather famous vintage Wroclaw company specializing intransporting furniture, mainly across Europe: Magic-Movers.com. Olsztyn-based VintageExpress.eu also has a similar profile. We make deliveries around Poland with the help of small local companies from Pomerania. I can mention Pako, for example: kamysztczew@wp.pl. And if you cannot find a company that will transport your furniture, there is a very cool transportation exchange called Clicktrans: Clicktrans.pl.
Be very vigilant, however, when you choose a carrier. See what kind of reviews they have and, above all, what exactly they carry. We wouldn’t want a fragile Danish secretary to travel with tractor tires, Christmas trees, or a concrete mixer, especially a poorly attached one. Let’s see how the carrier secures the furniture and tell him what he will carry. Since we are discussing valuable and unique furniture, I recommend being very discerning. Also, remember to sign the CMR (shipping document), which specifies, among other things, the value and weight of the furniture in case of damage or loss. It will be the basis for a future claim, should you need it. I also encourage taking photos or videos after packing the shipment yourself.
I wish you the best of luck in transporting your furniture. We are already in our new headquarters in Koszwały at Gdańska 20 (a convenient location on the route between Warsaw and Gdansk). We are still setting up, but will have the first photo shoot soon, and in a short while we will be able to invite you officially.
See you there,
Adam
