Page 54 - 05_June-2025

Design
FOREVER
MODERN
A new generation of collectors
are giving mid-century furniture
a second life
by ALLISON STEPHEN
photography
COOPER & O’HARA
54 EDify. JUNE.25
What is it about mid-century modern furniture that inspires such a
devoted fanbase? Maybe it’s the elegance of its restraint: the clean
lines, the democratic design principles, the sense of ease and
openness it brings to a space. Emerging post-war as a deliberate
departure from the bulky, ornamental styles of the early 20th
century, the new era offered something chic, functional and
enduringly well-made. It’s not nostalgia that keeps it alive, but
how it remains distinctly mid-century yet perpetually modern.
And so the style continues to find collectors with every generation
— like Jay Mejia, the 30-year-old designer and owner of Dom Deco
known for discovering and restoring rare collectibles. Mejia scours
small towns for originals passed down as family heirlooms, some-
times tracing back to Scandinavian immigrants who couldn’t bear
leaving them behind. He carefully restores them by fixing joints,
refinishing surfaces, reupholstering with period-appropriate
fabrics, matching lost parts — whatever it takes. For Mejia, it’s about
preserving design built to last in a world of fast furniture and throw-
away culture.