Charles Rennie Macintosh (1868-1928) the Glasgow-born architect and designer, is a seminal figure in 20th century design, and (with Archibald Knox and Eileen Gray) one of the ultimate products of the Arts & Crafts movement in the UK. CRM's influence and legacy is difficult to overstate.

Raymond Loewy (1893-1986) was born in Paris in 1893, and by the age of 15 had designed the Ayrel model airplane that won the Coupe Aeronautique Gordon Bennett in 1908, and which he was (typically) producing for sale by 1909. This early success and focus on design-driven sales was a consistent hallmark in Loewy's career.

Karl Bruno Mathsson (1907-1988) was one of the leading figures of the larger Scandanavian Modern movement that included Sweden, Norway, and Finland along with Danish Modern design. Mathsson designed relatively few pieces, but his original forms and pioneering use of materials helped to make "Swedish Modern" an international success in the 1940s-50s. Mathsson was trained as a cabinetmaker by his father Karl at their family's furniture business in Varnamo, Sweden.

Sori Yanagi (1915-2011) was the most well-known, admired,and influential Japanese designer of the post-war period. A consummate modernist with a deep reverence for tradition, Yanagi's 50-year teaching and design career produced a myriad of forms linked by simplicity, economy of materials and means, and unassuming practicality. Buildings, bridges, teapots and torches all received the same thoughtful consideration, multiple hand-made models, and eventual production in the simplest, purest form.

Mart Stam was an influential Dutch architect who worked with many of the great figures of early 20th Century architecture. In furniture design, he is widely credited with creating the first cantilever chair in metal tubing. His 1924 prototype was made from straight tube sections connected by metal elbows, but his S33 Chair exhibited in 1927 appeared as single-piece construction without visible joints.