Family is what brought Kifu Augousti into the world of furniture design. The daughter of celebrated designers Ria and Yiouri Augousti, Kifu has a bold, quirky style that is fiercely independent. Her exquisite handmade tables, seating and decorative objects — which typically feature pronounced geometrical forms and exotic inlays — set Augousti apart as an up-and-coming creator of modern furnishings made in the Art Deco tradition.

Augousti embarked on her creative career early. After attending Brown University, she followed in her parents' footsteps, carving out her own reputation as a design powerhouse.

While it’s often likened to her parents’ work, Kifu Augousti’s designs have a look that is distinctively their own. Offbeat materials, sinuous curves and wild patterns have become hallmarks of the designer’s furniture. In the workshop of her parent's design firm, R & Y Augousti, Kifu experimented with semi-precious stones, shells and other interesting materials as a child. Her parents gained fame for bringing shagreen — leather made from shark or stingray hide — back into fashion. (It reemerged as a luxe material among designers and decorators in 2017.)

Popular in the 1930s, this versatile material had fallen out of vogue over time. The Augoustis revived it for use in their own work, and Kifu Augousti continues to celebrate it, incorporating shagreen into her signature styles that are on offer at her Kifu Paris shop in Paris as well as in her New York City showroom. She favors bold, nature-inspired prints and silhouettes, and in many of her handmade benches, coffee tables, daybeds and other large pieces, an integration of shagreen blends wonderfully with the structures’ bold bronze frames or bases. In her smaller boxes, baskets and vases, stylish combinations of shagreen, shell inlays and decorative knobs with semi-precious stones are merged to create a sumptuous, unconventional look that is utterly unique.

Find Kifu Augousti seating, tables and decorative objects on 1stDibs.

Finding the Right games for You

There’s no better way to wind down after a week of work than with a well-designed antique, new or vintage game.

A beautifully designed contemporary or vintage game can introduce an element of fun to any room in your home — and it doesn’t have to be limited to the game room. The right mid-century or antique chess set or backgammon board can mean high stakes as well as high style for any entertainment room or cheery home bar area, with works from the period proving as pivotal to relaxation as they are eye-catching statement pieces.

While trends come and go, a unique vintage games table never goes out of style. Chess has an enduring and universal appeal, of which we were reminded following 2020’s successful Netflix show The Queen’s Gambit, while classic tric-trac tables are showstoppers in a secretive way, affording party guests a treasury of gaming under the guise of a fine neoclassical writing desk. But in shopping for the latter, strategize your next move carefully — an 18th-century tric-trac table designed in the Louis XVI style can get costly. Gambling games are always on trend, and, in a pinch, you can turn your standard console table or coffee table into a platform for roulette, cards or craps to introduce a little cheeky fun at your next soiree.

Table games such as pool, foosball and Ping-Pong — which is getting a makeover in the hands of today’s designers — can transform your already winning game room, while integrating games or games tables in any corner of your home can support your effort to make every bit of your space more warm and inviting. Browse a vast collection of antique, new and vintage games today on 1stDibs.