20th Century Desks and Writing Tables

Early 20th-Century Neoclassical Writing Desk Inlaid with Brass We present you a Neoclassical writing desk from the early 20th century. It is...

Rare desk in mahogany with two drawers and feet. Designed in 1958 by Vilhelm Wohlert for cabinetmaker Arne Poulsen. NOTE: Restoration of the desk is included within the price.

Here is a beautiful scandinavian modern desk in teak manufactured in Denmark in the 1960's which design is reminiscent of Kai Kristiansen. This special desk, recently imported from E...

Mt Airy Walnut Desk with Brass pulls and Walnut Armchair. Chair fits nicely under skirt of the desk. Sold through John Stuart. Elegant design, finished on back as well for many op...

It has been re-polished with polyutherane piano lacquer by our professional refurbishing team in Czechia according to the original process. The chrome parts have been cleaned and pr...

Minister's desk, Regence style, late 19th century or early 20th century. Large Minister's desk with gilt bronze and gold embossed leather decoration, Regency style, late 19th centur...

An outstanding French Louis XV style writing desk or bureau plat desk with bronze trim and ornate ormolu mounts and embossed leather top. The desk is finished on all sides and could ...

Bemutatjuk Önnek ezt a különleges íróasztal , Reneszánsz stílusban duóst faragássakkal díszítve A bemutatott darab korának megfelelő állapotban van. (A hozza illó könyves vitrin...

Beautiful Danish desk or vanity table featuring highly figured rosewood on a rectangular form with 2 front drawers, and a solid rosewood trestle base. The writing table has a pop up ...

Danish modern rosewood writing desk designed and manufactured by Ganddal Mobelfabrikk in Denmark circa 1960s. This beautiful desk w...

Action Office desk, model 64 902, designed by George Nelson & Robert Propst for Herman Miller from the 1960s. Base made of chrome-plated aluminum with white plastic protectors. Locka...

George Nelson for Herman Miller Vintage Action Office Table or Desk The Action Office desk or conference table was designed by American designer and architect George Nelson (1908-1986) for Herman Miller. A substantial piece, It features a beautifully grained walnut top mounted on a streamlined, polished stainless steel base. The desk top edge is trimmed in black rubber. to protect it against bumps and bruises. Two small desk drawers slide out from beneath the table top. The drawers can be removed if desired. The desk top has been recently restored and is in excellent condition. Action Office was originally designed as a set of components that could be combined in multiple ways and changed as needed to evolve with the office over time. George Nelson was one of the founders of American Modernism. From 1946 until 1972, Nelson was director of design at Herman Miller. While there, Nelson introduced several important innovations in office furniture design, such as the Swagged Leg Group, which included the DAF and MAA chairs...

Marcel Breuer was a Hungarian-German modernist architect and furniture designer. He became one of the first and youngest students at the Bauhaus – a radical arts and crafts school th...

This is a late 20th century regency style fax bamboo writing desk / console table by Chelsea House. It has a painted distressed ivory finish. It is marked and in very good condition....

A top quality antique military campaign style desk. This was made in England, it dates from around the 1930’s. It is very well made, with...

Mid Century Modern Walnut Desk by Founders Furniture Co., c. 1960's. Featuring a total of five dovetailed drawers with sculpted hand pulls and a laminate woodgrain tabletop, perfect ...

This is a very good French mahogany Directoire desk with bronze ormolu and restrained and simple design. The leather top is in good antique condition with some signs of age and use b...

Experience the sophistication of the 1960s with our beautifully restored Harvey Probber Mid-Century Modern Executive Desk. Crafted from the finest mahogany, this desk exemplifies the...

A very fine Edwardian richly patinated and beautifully figured mahogany Carlton House style desk of exceptional quality, stunningly carved wi...

Mid-century modern, model #1567, natural maple desk by Paul McCobb for Planner Group, Winchendon features 4 drawers with aluminum ring pulls. The chair opening measures 21.5 inches w...

A wonderful desk designed by Franco Albini and manufactured by Knoll International in the USA around 1960. The unique frame of the table has chrome plated crossed legs on each side ...

George Nelson X-Leg Table for Herman Miller. Originally designed and produced in the 1950s this was made as a work table for an office but equally intended for a dining space as well...

Rare piece by Guillerme et Chambron can be used as a desk or a dressing table Unique pice in oak and ceramic handle

Gorgeous walnut and chrome executive office desk. In the manner of a Florence knoll design this piece is in great condition with a refinished top.

Italian modern round coffee table with decorative bacterio pattern top, 1980s Round coffee table composed of a top covered in laminate with "Bacterio" pattern, orange-red painted met...

Toledo Typist Desk A rare compact typist table/desk manufactured by Toledo, circa 1910. It has a Tambour rolling steel front and fold-down sides for extra space. The whole unit can ...

Large desk designed by Gianfranco Frattini in 1956 for Bernini, Italy. Walnut wood with two drawers and two spaces in the front side and other four spaces in the back side.

A charming pine desk, crafted by a Swedish cabinetmaker in the 1940s. The natural grain of the pine adds warmth and character to the desk, highlighting its authentic, time-worn appea...

Vintage Dakota Jackson post modern Art Deco style executive partners desk featuring mahogany with leather insert and stainless steel frame. A V-Shape pattern veneer top with Black Leather inset. 2 pedestal cabinets below: each with 2 standard drawers and 1 file drawer, front and back. Polished Stainless Steel drawer pulls, post, floor plates, and arced trestle supporting desktop. DJ Chelsea Black Leather, Polished Polyresin finish. Dakota Jackson (born August 24, 1949) is an American furniture designer known for his eponymous furniture brand, Dakota Jackson, Inc.,[1] his early avant-garde works involving moving parts or hidden compartments,[2][3] and his collaborations with the Steinway & Sons piano company.[1] Jackson helped establish the art furniture movement in 1970s SoHo,[4][5] later becoming a celebrity designer in the 1980s.[6][7][8] His background in the world of stage magic helped him get his first commissions and is often cited as the source of his point-of-view.[6][9] Early life Dakota Jackson was born on August 24, 1949, and grew up in the Rego Park neighborhood of Queens, New York. Stage Magic Jackson's father, Jack Malon, was a professional magician.[10] Mr. Malon learned the trade from his own father, who studied stage magic in early 20th century Poland.[1] Jackson began studying magic at a young age and sometimes performed with his father.[11] Jackson's name, in fact, grew out of a road trip to Fargo, North Dakota.[11] Throughout his adolescence and into his early 20s, Jackson immersed himself in the world of magic.[2] In 1963, Jackson began to perform in talent shows at his junior high school, William Cowper JHS 73 (which is known today as The Frank Sansivieri Intermediate School),[12] and at children's birthday parties.[13] Jackson also began to build his own props, including large boxes for sawing a woman in half and small boxes from which doves would emerge in full flight.[11] Jackson acknowledges the importance of these early experiences with magic to his later career as a furniture designer: "The demands of performance taught me how to discipline myself to achieve aesthetic ends."[1][2][14] After Jackson graduated from Forest Hills High School in 1967, he continued performing as a magician, working in art galleries, night clubs, touring in the Catskills, and giving private performances at society events.[2][13][15] When he was 17, Jackson had studied with magician Jack London to learn the dangerous bullet catch trick.[16] "What appealed to me was the notion of doing things that appeared miraculous" Jackson once recalled.[6] "I was interested in spiritualism. I was interested in things like bullet catching, things that really challenged individual sensibilities, that were frightening, on the edge."[2] He didn't find the opportunity to perform the trick publicly until a decade later at Jackson's final professional performance as a magician.[1] It was documented in Andy Warhol's Interview (magazine), in a story titled "Dakota Jackson bites the bullet."[1][16] Jackson admits that he sometimes tires of references to his magician background, although he acknowledges it as an important part of his history.[2] The Downtown Arts Scene In the late 1960s, Jackson moved into a loft on 28th Street in Chelsea.[1][17] Jackson became part of the Downtown scene, a community of "artists, dancers, performers, and musicians" who moved to the neighborhood for the cheap rent and social life.[1][8][17][18] In October 1970, Jackson performed with the Japanese group Tokyo Kid Brothers at New York's La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (also known as Café La MaMa) in a rock musical production called "Coney Island Play" ("Konī airando purē).[19] The show explored themes of cross-cultural communication and understanding[19] and was a follow up to the group's debut performance of "The Golden Bat" at La MaMa earlier that summer.[20][21][22] Jackson played the part of a "clever conjurer."[19] Over the next few years, Jackson became interested in minimalist dance and performed in the dance companies of Laura Dean and Trisha Brown.[2][15][23] Jackson credits his exposure to minimalism and minimalist dance in particular as having had a strong influence on his approach to design; in 1989, Jackson told the Los Angeles Times: For me the essential fineness of a design is in the idea, not the object itself ... In minimalism, the object is pared down to its basic meaning by stripping away all the excrescence ... —those elements that do not contribute to the pure idea.[24] Design career In the early 1970s, as he experimented with performance and dance, Jackson began branching out as a special effects consultant to other magicians, film producers, and musicians[2][23] such as Donna Summer.[6][9] The loft also gave Jackson an opportunity to apply his creativity and building skills: "These were times when lofts were not ... luxury condominiums. These were tough, tough raw spaces ... and we artists, bohemians, creative people, we created our environment. So I had to build".[17][25] Recognizing his skills as a builder, Jackson decided to shift away from performance and become a full-time maker.[1][15][17] He began making a variety of objects, including furnishings for other artists and magic boxes with hidden compartments for art collectors and galleries.[17][24] Jackson's social connections helped spread word about his work[15] and this led to his first commissions.[1] Early Commissions Desk for John Lennon by Dakota Jackson In 1974, Jackson's career as a designer began when Yoko Ono asked him to build a desk with hidden compartments for husband John Lennon.[26] "She wanted to make a piece of furniture that would be a mystical object; that would be like a Chinese puzzle," Jackson recalled in a 1986 interview published in the Chicago Tribune.[6] The result was a small cubed-shaped writing table with rounded corners reminiscent of Art Deco era style.[15] Touching secret pressure points opened the desk's compartments.[23] This commission helped build Jackson's reputation and allowed him to merge his experience as a magician and performer with his developing interest in furniture.[27] In 1978, a bed designed for fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg garnered Jackson even more notoriety.[8][10][28] [29] Called "The Eclipse", the bed was described in The New Yorker as "large, astounding, sumptuous, with sunbursts of cherry wood and quilted ivory satin at head and foot."[10] A lighting system positioned behind the headboard switched on automatically at sunset and spread out rays of light "like an aurora borealis,"[2][17] which grew brighter and brighter until turning off at 2 am.[23][30] Commissions like these continued to come in[8] and Jackson soon became known as a designer to the rich and famous.[30] Some of his other clients from this period included songwriter Peter Allen, Saturday Night Live creator and producer Lorne Michaels, Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, and soap opera actress Christine Jones.[8] The American Art Furniture Movement and the Industrial Style In the late 1970s, Jackson was among a small group of artists and artisans producing and exhibiting hand-made furniture in New York.[5][31] Jackson and his peers were part of the "American Art Furniture Movement," a group sometimes called the "Art et Industrie Movement,"[32] named after the leading art furniture gallery of the era,[32] Art et Industrie, founded by Rick Kaufmann in 1976.[33] In a 1984 Town & Country article titled "Art You Can Sit On," Kaufmann said he created the gallery to "serve as a locus to the public for artists and designers creating new decorative arts."[31] The works on display were "radical objects" that drew from a number of fine art traditions, including "Pop, Surrealism, Pointillism and Dada [which were] "thrown together with the severe lines of the Bauhaus and the Russian avant-garde, mixed with Mondrian's color and filtered through a video sensibility—all to create a new statement."[31] The article described Jackson as a "ten-year veteran of the genre" and pointed to the "clean forms and quiet colors" of his furniture.[4] Jackson showed a variety of industrial-looking lacquer, metal, and glass works at Art et Industrie, including his Standing Bar (also known as the Modern Bar),[33] a lacquered cabinet that Jackson designed in 1978 for his wife (then-girlfriend) RoseLee Goldberg.[13] Other works from this period include the T-Bird Desk, Self-Winding Cocktail Table, and the Saturn Stool...

This Victorian Style Library Table with a Black Writing Surface is surely to be a focal point to your library, office or great room. This truly is a stately and elegant piece crafte...

ABOUT A fully adjustable industrial wooden drafting table with a cast iron ledge, cast iron knobs and brackets. The table can be used as a tall dining table, standing desk or drafti...

John Van Koert Walnut Leather Top Desk for Drexel, c.1965. This piece has been professionally restored.

Cabinet with drop-down desk and storage compartment with hinged doors. Teak veneer wood and brass. Good conditions.

A Large Executive Desk, designed by Sir Norman Foster and manufactured by Tecno, Italy. This vintage example dates to late 1980s and in superb original condition. A modern and sleek ...

An outstanding French Louis XV style writing desk or bureau plat desk France, Circa 1940s Gorgeous kingwood, with bronze trim and ornate ormolu mounts, and embossed green leather t...

A charming relic from the mid-20th century, this Small Italian Desk embodies the essence of mid-century design with a perfect blend of metal, walnut, and formica. Crafted around 1950...

Condition: Great Vintage Condition Dimensions: 60” L x 28” L x 30.25” H (24.75” H LR) Description: A vintage tiger oak desk with a top grain leather surface. Made in the USA, circa...

An absolutely magnificent Art Deco burr walnut leather top partners desk. This was made in England, it dates from the 1920-30’s. The quality is outstanding, this has an extremely im...

We are delighted to offer for sale this Huge Partners Desk With Navy Blue Desk. An antique huge distressed partners desk with a navy blue leather top...

Immerse yourself in the beauty of traditional Chinese craftsmanship with this Hand Painted/Black Lacquered and Brass Secretary Desk. Featuring intricate hand-painted scenes on a rich...

Wonderfull minimalist desk By Herbert Hirche, manufactured by Christian Holzäpfel in 1967. Original condition. Born in Görlitz Herbert Hirche moved to Berlin to study at the renowne...

Gianfranco Frattini designed this gorgeous rosewood rolltop desk, model 804, for Bernini in the early 1960s. What appears to be a compact chest of ten...

A teak and brass desk designed by Severin Hansen and produced by Haslev, Denmark, c. 1960s.

Mid modern danish standing desk in teak attriduted to Hans Wegner. 3 drawers in the apron and two flip-down leaves

A stunning and iconic Danish vintage model 901 desk by Bodil Kjaer. This was made in Denmark by E. Pedersen & Søn, originally designed in 1959, this dates from the 1960’s. It sits o...

elegant desk with a simple design made in the 1970s by the Zevi company from brass and thick glass.

Satinwood writing table having a blue inset leather top enclosed by satinwood border. Above and arrangement of drawers with brass knob handles. All are raised up on four square suppo...

A stunning and iconic Danish vintage desk by Bodil Kjaer. This was made in Denmark by E. Pedersen & Søn, originally designed in 1959, this dates from the 1960’s. It is an extremely ...

Desk, design Alvar Aalto, manufactured by Artek, 1950/1960s. Teak table top with painted wood drawers. Good vintage condition, patina and wear consistent with age and use. Alvar Aa...

Original Vintage Condition Materials: Mahogany, Marble Top, Brass Handles & Gallery

A fabulous Louis XV style desk which boasts elegant cabriole legs, four drawers, the left being a double height drawer, with wonderful oak grain and charming carved details. The desk...

This wood and glass desk attribuited to Fabio Lenci is a gorgeous piece of Italian design. Meticulously crafted, the combination of wood and glass and its essential lines creates an...

An antique American Empire style dressing table, circa 1930s. Originally featured a mirror along the back which was eventually removed to use as an office desk. Made from mahogany ...

Vintage 1960s Hollywood Regency desk for sale. Manufactured by Karges in the 1960s, and in beautiful vintage condition. Really special writing desk that ...

Rare Ammedabad Console/Desk by Le Corbusier. This item was originally designed by Indian Architect, B.V Doshi under the supervision of Le Corbusier for Mills Owners Association build...

Swedish mid century modern roll top desk, circa 1960s. Designed by Egon Ostergaard, for SMI Sweden. Stamped underneath "Made in Sweden...

Vintage teak office table. This Scandinavian desk produced in the 1960s, with its clean design and fine lines, exemplifies functionality and elegance. Consisting of a wide work sur...

An Italian 1930's writing table made for Banca Del Popolo, Trapani. The rectangular surface is supported by trapezoidal shaped sides with a hammered copper plating underneath the t...