Modernism! The 10 Most Cliche Furniture Choices for Your Cool Guy Pad

the most cliche designer home furnishings

Designed by prolific Swedish Architect Thomas Eriksson in 1992 for Cappellini's Progetto Oggetto collection, this piece is made of metal and offered in numerous colors. The well-known symbol is fresh, funky, and oh so humanitarian. The medicine cupboard is permanently exhibited at the MoMA which any owner can boast, and at $800, this is affordable as Cappellini pieces go. It's the perfect gateway piece for future designer addiction and for any bachelor who "knows a lot about cool shit".

Remember the first time you came across this one at your Creative Director's apartment? It was draped in a Koons-for-Target beach towel and had that stack of Monocle magazines carefully placed next to it. If you're trying to recreate your stay at the Ace Hotel, this is the perfect starter piece as it comes in at $500. Be prepared to answer tough immigration-officer-style questioning from any validating Eames-head, though. They'll want to know the year, mold, manufacture, and factory from where your chair came.

Designed by ze German industrial designer Richard Sapper for Italian powerhouse Artemide in 1972. The lamp is in museum permanent collections, and is uniquely designed with two counterweights that allow the position and direction of the lamp to be adjusted. It's techy and sleek, and it went perfect with your Porsche briefcase and brick cell phone before that nasty little recession.

Sure, a lot of design kids have thought about piecing one together, and it's relatively free, but you have to remember to accessorize. Because hi-lo is so hip, make sure to pair this one with your in-bedroom flatscreen, exercise bike, Andy Warhol Tomato Soup print, and walk in closet. You'll always have a story to tell about how you roamed a Home Depot shipping dock to get it together. You'll also have that embarrassed feeling when you're over it and have to drag it all back to the curb. Extra points for painting the wood pallets white for art gallery minimalism.

Renowned French designer Philippe Starck created a series of gun lamps for Italian lighting firm FLOS in 2005. Ranging between $1750-2800 and coming in both table or floor, silver or 18K gold polished aluminum body versions, it made for a cool lamp that was superbly made. The gun lamp serves as the go-to lamp for any super scened-out boutique hotel, club VIP room, or for any baller that wants to show they know what's up design wise. If you own one, make sure to move it from room to room to keep visitors on their toes.

While technically this is more home electronics than furniture, this audio player's hugeness and "eye on the prize" obnoxiousness gains it a spot on this list. The BeoSound, introduced in 1996, is a 6-CD music system designed by David Lewis for Danish firm Bang & Olufsen. Considered an "instant icon", it has won numerous awards and has graced the cover of pretty much every out of business design magazine. B&O still offer it today, and even though it's considerably dated and of no use whatsoever, true B&O heads still rep it hard. Buy it now for around 3K or find a "mint/rare/collector" BeoSound on Craigslist.

This is the ultimate brainstorming chair for any Portland-based creative director—it looks like a woman! Designed by Geatane Pesce in 1969 for B&B Italia, the Up Series has become one of B&B's most successful to date. There are seven models of seats like this in various sizes, and the Up5 (pictured here) is the collection's most famous. B&B is one of the sickest contemporary furniture brands, and we'd all like to have one of these chairs if we could drop 3K on a Tuesday, but it does hint, "Yeah, l threw down for a B&B." While this chair looks cool in the B&B catalog amidst all things B&B, it doesn't look good in a 800 sq ft apartment so think hard before you drop quick.

Another furniture piece that has seen countless reproductions over the years, it was originally designed by Japanese duo Shin & Tomoko Azumi out of their London Azumi studio for the Italian furniture maker in 2000. The stool has received numerous awards for its sleek design and function, and an authentic Lem goes for around $800 these days. Fakes usually sell for around $200, so any home-bar mixologist who wants to classy up the place usually does so with a Lem or two.

Created by German designer Ludwig Mies van der Roche in 1929 for the German Pavilion at Barcelona's EXPO, the chair has been manufactured and trademarked by USA manufacturer Knoll since 1953. Almost completely hand made with rich soft leather, a real Barcelona sells for around 5K. MoMA gave it an award, and the chair is without a doubt awesome. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most knocked off designs of all time, and a favorite of a-holes around the world. Any new apartment development usually has a row of fakes in the lobby.

No surprise here. As Herman Miller's website states, "Who doesn't recognize the Eames lounge chair and ottoman?" The chair still gets tons of press, it's in all the museums, movies, and even the subject of a documentary short, so we can't hate. But you know as well as we do that it's obvious, obnoxious, and that buying one has little to do with "the comfort of a baseball mitt."