Louis A Lara

Initially known as Spanish Metal Arts — a supplier of fencing for stately homes on Long Island — the principals at New York furniture manufacturer Brueton were artistically minded from the start, ensuring that their furniture company would become a major player in the world of stylish, modern stainless steel-based design. The company’s sculptural glass-topped dining tables and vintage mid-century modern chrome-framed armchairs are welcome additions to any contemporary interior.

Brueton got its start with the Manufacturers Hanover Trust building in Manhattan. When award-winning architect Gordon Bunshaft of engineering firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) was designing what would become a modernist marvel in the 1950s — a structure that traded sleek glass facades for the stone columns typically associated with banks — SOM worked with Spanish Metal Arts’s Bruno Saudino and Tony Vitale to furnish the property.

For Bruno and Tony, it marked the start of the aptly named Brueton — the pair produced understated side tables and seating made of glass and aluminum for SOM’s project. Revolutionary for its time, instead of traditional narrow windows, the Manufacturers Hanover Trust building was practically transparent — allowing passers-by to see the vault from the outside. (Celebrated photographer Ezra Stoller, who chronicled iconic New York buildings like Mies van der Rohe’s Seagram Building and the soaring silhouette of Eero Saarinen’s TWA Terminal, shot the building in 1954.)

Much like the material associated with so many of its offerings, Brueton built a reputation of being a strong, dependable and polished manufacturer. The brand worked with designers such as J. Wade Beam, who created cylindrical tables of polished chrome and exquisite marble mirrors during the 1970s, as well as Massimo and Lella Vignelli, a pair of innovative polymaths who ​​left a profound mark on design and wider visual culture.

On 1stDibs, find vintage Brueton case pieces and storage cabinets, tables and seating on 1stDibs.

The right vintage, new or antique tables can help make any space in your home stand out.

Over the years, the variety of tables available to us, as well as our specific needs for said tables, has broadened. Today, with all manner of these must-have furnishings differing in shape, material and style, any dining room table can shine just as brightly as the guests who gather around it.

Remember, when shopping for a dining table, it must fit your dining area, and you need to account for space around the table too — think outside the box, as an oval dining table may work for tighter spaces. Alternatively, if you’ve got the room, a Regency-style dining table can elevate any formal occasion at mealtime.

Innovative furniture makers and designers have also redefined what a table can be. Whether it’s an unconventional Ping-Pong table, a brass side table to display your treasured collectibles or a Louis Vuitton steamer trunk to add an air of nostalgia to your loft, your table can say a lot about you.

The visionary work of French designer Xavier Lavergne, for example, includes tables that draw on the forms of celestial bodies as often as they do aquatic creatures or fossils. Elsewhere, Italian architect Gae Aulenti, who looked to Roman architecture in crafting her stately Jumbo coffee table, created clever glass-topped mobile coffee tables that move on bicycle tires or sculpted wood wheels for Fontana Arte. 

Coffee and cocktail tables can serve as a room’s centerpiece with attention-grabbing details and colors. Glass varieties will keep your hardwood flooring and dazzling area rugs on display, while a marble or stone coffee table in a modern interior can showcase your prized art books and decorative objects. A unique vintage desk or writing table can bring sophistication and even a bit of spice to your work life. 

No matter your desired form or function, a quality table for your living space is a sound investment. On 1stDibs, browse a collection of vintage, new and antique bedside tables, mid-century end tables and more .