Heavy Glass Ash Tray

Industrial floor lamps, bar stools, desks and other industrial-style furnishings have experienced a resurgence in popularity with the rise of interest in minimalist design.

It's a look that celebrates the past even as it suggests vigor, productivity and brawn. The newly chic industrial style of decor repurposes the simple, sturdy furniture of an earlier world of commerce — brushed-metal storage cabinets and display shelves, task lamps and pendant lights with enameled shades, work tables with worn wooden tops and cast-iron bases — and couples them with aesthetic touches emblematic of energy and optimism, from bright upholstery fabrics to flowers.

The rise in prominence of the industrial style has come hand-in-hand with the residential repurposing of former manufacturing and warehouse districts throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. In many loft apartments created in shuttered factories, the architectural envelope has been left intact.

Industrial-style interiors feature elements like raw brick walls, exposed steel beams and oak floors whose history is written in every pit and gouge. Iron and glass transom windows give definition and interest to small kitchen areas anchored by kitchen islands made of marble, steel and brass, while taxidermy or vintage neon signs serve as wall art in living rooms dotted with leather club chairs. Patina is the keynote to a decor in sync with such surroundings. 

On 1stDibs you will find industrial furniture designs that wear their age beautifully — and were built to last.

Once a near-universal tabletop accessory, many antique, new and vintage ashtrays have taken on an entirely new purpose in today’s homes.

Whereas these formerly ubiquitous objects were associated with smoking, drinking, gambling and other vices, a well-designed and interesting ashtray is a candy dish, coaster or cocktail garnish receptacle in today’s interiors. But don’t discount its initial function. Amid your carefully curated coastal chic California decor, for example, a stone ashtray can help you manage the ashes that accumulate while you’re burning your morning incense. Old glass ashtrays, which are quite popular and easily found in free-form, organic shapes, can be a purely decorative final touch when styling a coffee table, whether you’ve filled it with wrapped lemon-drop candies or not.

In the postwar years, the democratization of luxury led to an explosion in the number of well-designed ashtrays, and there are many mid-century modern ashtrays to choose from on 1stDibs. (It’s no coincidence that sculptor Isamu Noguchi devised his “Dymaxion” version, which he hoped would make him rich, in 1945. Alas, it turned out to be too difficult to mass-produce.) The design collection of the Museum of Modern Art includes ashtrays by Carlo Scarpa (Murano glass, 1950–59); Achille Castiglioni (stainless steel with spring-like inserts, 1970); Masayuki Kurokawa (rubber and steel, 1973) and more. Smoking declined in popularity in the 1970s and ’80s, after the surgeon general’s warning began appearing on cigarette packs, but designers were still crafting ashtrays through the end of the century (especially outside the United States).

On 1stDibs, browse a collection of antique, new and vintage ashtrays that includes everything from modern and minimalist cigar ashtrays to outwardly ornate Art Deco ashtrays that evoke the opulence and elegance of the 1920s.