Designer, artist and architect Eileen Gray was one of the most fascinating creative figures of the 20th century. Her body of work includes lustrous lacquered pieces — her Dragons chair set an auction record for modern furniture ($28 million) at the 2009 sale of the Yves Saint Laurent estate — and sleek chrome furnishings that rival the work of Le Corbusier and the members of the Bauhaus as exemplars of pure, modernist design.
The independent and unconventional daughter of Irish landed gentry, Gray studied painting at London’s Slade School of Fine Art in her early twenties before moving to Paris in 1906 to pursue her artistic dreams. Gray had become captivated by lacquerware after seeing an exhibit in the Victoria & Albert Museum, and in Paris persuaded an expatriate Japanese master of the painstaking process, Seizo Sugawara, to teach her. Within a few years, Gray had become known among the cognoscenti for her sculptural lacquered furnishings, which she incorporated into the homes of interior design clients.
Gray was ever evolving as a designer. By the early 1920s she was creating geometric works that embodied the essence of Art Deco and the nascent modernist design movement. Some pieces — such as her Bricks screen, an assemblage of pivoting rectangular panels — employ the planar forms favored by Gerrit Rietveld and other De Stijl architects of the Netherlands. Others feature the tubular chrome framing used by Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. These include the Bibendum chair — named for the resemblance of its semicircular back and armrest to the character known in English as the Michelin Man — and the adjustable E 1027 side table, conceived in 1927 for the interiors of a stark white villa she designed for herself in the South of France.
Never a self-promoter, Gray drifted out of the limelight in the 1930s. Interest in her work was revived in the early ’70s, however, when the estates of her early clients came to auction. Her original lacquer pieces are the most coveted, but, as the sale of the Dragons chair shows, are rare and extremely expensive.
None of Gray’s designs were made in large numbers until, a few years before her death, she granted a production license. These pieces range in price from $1,000 to $2,500, depending on furniture type and condition. Gray’s work has become iconic of practical and elegant modernist design. Yet, as you will see on 1stDibs, many of her creations have a simplicity that makes them welcome even in a traditional setting.
$4,366 / item
ClassiCon Jean Fold Out Table by Eileen Gray
By Eileen Gray
Located in New York, NY
Jean, named after Eileen Gray‘s intimate friend of many years, the architect Jean Badovici, stood in various modeis in their summer villa E 1027. "Every room has at its disposal one ...
Steel
$6,177 / item
ClassiCon Lou Perou Folding Table by Eileen Gray
By Eileen Gray
Located in New York, NY
Like the majority of Eileen Gray‘s tables, this one too can transform itself. And as always she found an unexpected solution. The folding section of the tabletop is supported by a si...
Steel
$2,590
H 27.56 in W 39.38 in D 16.15 in
Bauhaus Tubular Folding Desk in Walnut, Signed by Cova Milano, Italy, 1940s
By Cova, Italy 1
Located in Roma, IT
Elegant and rare Italian Bauhaus-style folding desk in chromed metal and walnut wood. This charming desk was produced by Cova Milano in Italy during the 1940s. The table features a ...
Metal, Steel, Chrome
Eillen Gray per Classicon Tavolino "E1027", Italia 1990s
By Eileen Gray
Located in Naples, IT
Tavolino in metallo cromato e vetro tondo nero Eileen Gray. Questo tavolino in acciaio tubolare e vetro E1027 di Eileen Gray è stato originariamente progettato da Gray nel 1926. Il d...
Steel
$2,001
H 40.16 in Dm 20.48 in
Bauhaus Adjustable Table E 1027 in Red, Designed by Eileen Gray, ClassiCon, 70s
By Eileen Gray
Located in Lucija, SI
This is perhaps the Classic among the classics. Its ingeniously proportioned, distinctive form has made this height-adjustable table one of the most popular design icons of the 20th ...
Steel
$2,355
H 27.96 in W 50.79 in D 25.2 in
Modernist Flip Top Dining Table Jean by Eileen Gray for ClassiCon
By Eileen Gray
Located in Beograd, RS
In this listing you will find a Modernist Flip Top Table "Jean" designed by Eileen Gray for her architecture project Villa E-1027, also known and House by the Sea. It was originally ...
Steel
$5,118 / item
H 29.53 in W 63 in D 23.63 in
French Gray-Blue Rectangular Console Table in Solid Wood by Eric Gizard, Paris
By Éric Gizard
Located in Landivy, FR
This grey blue rectangular console table / desk is designed by Eric Gizard in Paris. It is 100% made of solid ash wood from sustainably managed and PEFC certified French forests. ...
Wood, Ash, Lacquer
Jorge Zalszupin Folding Desk by L'atelier Brazil 1959
By Jorge Zalszupin
Located in Roosendaal, Noord Brabant
Folding desk designed by Jorge Zalszupin and manufactured by his own company L’Atelier, Brazil 1959. As Zalszupin gained more and more momentum with his practice during the early and...
Faux Leather, Rosewood
Williams Writing Desk Walnut Gray
Located in Cincinnati, US
A thin, elegant and light desk that can be customized to any color desired. This handcrafted item perfectly blends industrial hairpin legs with a beveled wooden top. The irregular be...
Steel
Eileen Gray Double X Table from Classicon
By Eileen Gray
Located in Hamburg, DE
When an avant-garde tubular steel design meets a classic refectory table, the result is the double X. A large but elegant table whose X-shaped supports ensure optimal rigidity. Like ...
Steel, Chrome
$32,980Sale Price|25% Off
H 29.53 in Dm 51.19 in
ClassiCon Bell Dining Table with Verde Marble Base by Sebastian Herkner in STOCK
By Sebastian Herkner
Located in New York, NY
Base marble verde, glasstop black Table. Base solid marble in Nero Marquina, polished and impregnated with metal top frame solid steel, black lacquered. Or base solid marble in Verde Guatemala, polished and impregnated with metal top frame solid brass, with clear varnish. Tabletop crystal glass, black lacquered. Bell Dining Table...
Glass
$5,839 / set
H 14.97 in W 14.97 in D 10.24 in
ClassiCon Set of Three Cork Side Tables by Herzog & de Meuron in STOCK
Located in New York, NY
Stool or side table. Dark cork with impregnation, milled from one block. Sustainably produced and flexible in use – a design object that works in any living environment. Warm, ground...
Cork
Monolith Slab Table by Phaedo
Located in Geneve, CH
Monolith slab table by Phaedo. Dimensions: W 30" x L 60" x H 16" inches. Materials: white-washed ash. The Monolith slab takes the Monolith motif and creates a visually striking surface. The wood of the table top has been carved away to allow the grain to roll over the rim and down into the cylinder. Phaedo is a sculpture and design company founded by Morgan Spaulding. At once playful and restrained, somber and lively, Spaulding’s art and furniture personify the ambiguous curvatures of ethereal in-betweens: dreamstates, memories in recession, thresholds in passing. In balanced practice, Spaulding’s ornamental sculpture...
Ash
$2,534 / set
H 25.2 in W 20.48 in D 20.48 in
Set of 2 Coffee table ClassiCon Adjustable Table E1027 design Eileen Gray
By Eileen Gray
Located in Alcamo, IT
Brand: ClassiCon Model: Adjustable Table E1027 Design: Eileen Gray, 1927 This table is the classic among classics. Its ingeniously proportioned...
Crystal, Steel
Sold
H 27.56 in W 23.63 in D 46.07 in
Irish International Style Metal Set of Office Chair & Desk by Eileen Gray, 1970s
By Eileen Gray
Located in MIlano, IT
Irish international style black and chromed metal set of office chair and desk by Eileen Gray, 1970s Chair with black metal armrests, with chromed...
Metal
Sold
H 27.56 in W 23.63 in D 46.07 in
Irish International Style Black and Chromed Metal Desk by Eileen Gray, 1970s
By Eileen Gray
Located in MIlano, IT
Irish international style black and chromed metal desk by Eileen Gray, 1970s Desk with micro-perforated top in black metal, with a small lower rectangula...
Metal
Jean Fold Out Table by Eileen Gray
By Eileen Gray
Located in Dronten, NL
Jean, named after Eileen Gray‘s intimate friend of many years, the architect Jean Badovici, stood in various modeis in their summer villa E 1027. "Every room has at its disposal one ...
Chrome