20th Century Classics

More recently, the designs of Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh have caught the eye of Mission enthusiasts. For the first 10 years of this century, Mackintosh designed buildings and furniture incorporating Mission’s rectangular lines and grids, softened by curved floral motifs adapted from Art Nouveau.


A landmark 1998 exhibition of Mackintosh’s work in Glasgow and New York helped bring this artist/designer back to public awareness. Now his influence can be seen in the work of many contemporary furniture designers. While Mission styles are usually executed in dark-stained oak, Mackintosh designs lean to lighter tones and more tightly grained woods. This lighter feeling is more compatible with the late 20th century taste for light-to-white color schemes.

The last decade of the 20th Century has enjoyed a renewed interest in the great furniture styles of the last 100 years. Despite their differences, the spotlight has shown equally on Modernist and Mission design. Both styles continue to inspire today’s furniture manufacturers. Both were equally groundbreaking styles, with lines pared back to essentials. And both are sure to have their fierce partisans and collectors far into the foreseeable future.