{"id":4654,"date":"2016-12-16T16:40:43","date_gmt":"2016-12-16T16:40:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.modernclassics.com\/blog\/?p=4654"},"modified":"2026-04-07T14:29:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T14:29:27","slug":"modern-contemporary-design-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.modernclassics.com\/blog\/modern-contemporary-design-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Modern and Contemporary Design: Know The Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_4685\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"\/mc-modern-vs-contemporary.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4685\" class=\"img-responsive wp-image-4685 size-medium\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/ox-chair-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Modern Classics Ox Chair and Eileen Gray Side Table\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.modernclassics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/ox-chair-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.modernclassics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/ox-chair-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.modernclassics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/ox-chair-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.modernclassics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/ox-chair-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.modernclassics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/ox-chair.jpg 1292w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4685\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Modern Classics Ox Chair and Eileen Gray Side Table<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Whenever I hear a design professional on TV use the terms\u00a0<a href=\"\/mc-modern-vs-contemporary.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i>modern<\/i> and <i>contemporary<\/i><\/a>\u00a0interchangeably, I just shake my head at their error. \u00a0For example, the\u00a0contractor\/host on any home improvement show today will always mention the main issue with his clients is something along the lines of &#8220;Joe&#8217;s style is <em>traditional<\/em>, where as Jane&#8217;s\u00a0style is &#8216;<em>modern<\/em> <em>contemporary'&#8221;<\/em>\u00a0(if you have never noticed this, now you will).<i>\u00a0\u00a0<\/i>I may not even be bothered\u00a0when these terms are used incorrectly when speaking in reference to architecture and design, if not for those four years I spent studying\u00a0art history, making it impossible not notice this. \u00a0Since not everyone has a degree in art history, I am here to definitively clear up\u00a0what is\u00a0<em>modern\u00a0<\/em>and and what is\u00a0<em>contemporary<\/em>\u00a0as it relates to architecture and design (I mean, this was taught in <em>Basic Art History 101<\/em> so I would think my favorite celebrity house flippers would know better, but whatever).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Modern<\/strong>: \u00a0The 20th century style made by the famously creative minds of the Modern Movement. \u00a0These famous designers created an unprecedented style comprised of\u00a0distinct elements representing the ideals of The Machine Age. \u00a0Features include minimalist and clean lines, absence of ornamentation and using materials representing the industrial age, like concrete and steel.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Contemporary<\/strong>: \u00a0Unlike modernism, contemporary architecture refers to the evolving architecture of the present day. \u00a0Contemporary architecture\u00a0represents\u00a0a broad range of styles and are homes that have been constructed in recent years, serving to meet all the needs of today (unlike historic modern homes constructed decades ago and usually holding landmark status).<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;and there you have it. \u00a0Any questions? \u00a0Feel free to drop us a line, or, even better, stop by our factory showroom location in <a href=\"\/mc-showroom-bellingham.html\">Bellingham<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whenever I hear a design professional on TV use the terms\u00a0modern and contemporary\u00a0interchangeably, I just shake my head at their error. \u00a0For example, the\u00a0contractor\/host on any home improvement show today will always mention the main issue with his clients is something along the lines of &#8220;Joe&#8217;s style is traditional, where as Jane&#8217;s\u00a0style is &#8216;modern contemporary&#8217;&#8221;\u00a0(if [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[87,88,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-modern","category-contemporary","category-furniture-notes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.modernclassics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.modernclassics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.modernclassics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.modernclassics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.modernclassics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4654"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.modernclassics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5171,"href":"https:\/\/www.modernclassics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4654\/revisions\/5171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.modernclassics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.modernclassics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.modernclassics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}