Inspired by pure geometrical forms — circles, rectangles, squares, cylinders and spheres — John Eric Byers’s furniture is deceptively simple. A closer inspection, however, shows that behind each coffee table, bench and chair there is great care and meticulous attention to detail. It is little wonder why the woodworker is considered to be among the foremost figures of the modern American Studio movement.
Born in Rochester, New York, in 1959, Byers trained in the workshop of Wendell Castle, “the father of the art furniture movement.” The renowned American sculptor greatly influenced Byers, and the New York native found inspiration in the work of other artist-designers while in Castle’s workshop such as Donald Judd and British ceramicist Hans Coper.
Following his studies under Castle, Byers established a studio and workshop in Newfield, New York. There, he uses a variety of specialized techniques in the design of his furniture, including wood milling, lamination, hand-shaping, hand-tooling and finishing, often with casein milk paint, which is believed to have been used in ancient Egypt.
Byers’s side tables, stools, sideboards, credenzas and other pieces are sculpted by hand in his preferred material — hard, blackened maple. Each design demonstrates his keen focus on detailed surface texture and structure.
Byers’s works have not gone unnoticed over the course of his decades-long career. He has won multiple awards, such as the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award and the New York Foundation of the Arts Award. He has been included in the Smithsonian’s Oral Archives of American Arts as well.
Byers’s pieces feature in permanent collections at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Mint Museum and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City.
Find vintage John Eric Byers tables, seating, case pieces and storage cabinets.
$14,321 / item
ORO - OT1 Side Table by John Eric Byers
By John Eric Byers
Located in Geneve, CH
ORO - OT1 side table by John Eric Byers ORO Collection Dimensions: W38 x D38 x H51cm Materials: Maple Hardwood + Gold Metallic Lacquer Hand Shaped + Hand Textured + Hollow Cor...
Maple
$14,321 / item
Maple Square Table #1 Sculpted by John Eric Byers
By John Eric Byers
Located in Geneve, CH
Maple round table #1 sculpted by John Eric Byers Dimensions: 20” x 18” x 18 in Materials: carved lacquered maple All works are individually handmade to order. John Eric Byers...
Maple
$13,019 / item
Maple Square Table #2 Sculpted by John Eric Byers
By John Eric Byers
Located in Geneve, CH
Maple round table #2 sculpted by John Eric Byers Dimensions: 20” x 15” x 15 in Materials: Carved lacquered maple All works are individually handmade to order. John Eric Byers creat...
Maple
$26,038 / set
Set of 2 Round Revert Table by John Eric Byers
By John Eric Byers
Located in Geneve, CH
Set of 2 square revert table by John Eric Byers Dimensions: 20" x 16" dia Materials: Carved blackened maple All works are individually handmade t...
Maple
$36,453 / item
Maple Low Table Sculpted by John Eric Byers
By John Eric Byers
Located in Geneve, CH
Maple low table sculpted by John Eric Byers Dimensions: 33 x 71 x 198 cm Materials: Carved blackened Maple All works are individually handmade to order. John Eric Byers creat...
Maple
$26,038 / item
Set of 2 Pillar Table by John Eric Byers
By John Eric Byers
Located in Geneve, CH
Set of 2 pillar table by John Eric Byers Dimensions: 50.8 x 50.8 x 35.5 cm Materials: Carved blackened maple All works are individually handmade to order. John Eric Byers cre...
Maple
$28,642 / item
R2 Maple Round Low Table Sculpted by John Eric Byers
By John Eric Byers
Located in Geneve, CH
Maple round table sculpted by John Eric Byers R2 maple round low table sculpted by John Eric Byers Materials: Carved blackened maple. All works are individually handmade to orde...
Maple
$28,642 / item
Maple Round Table Sculpted by John Eric Byers
By John Eric Byers
Located in Geneve, CH
Maple round table sculpted by John Eric Byers Dimensions: 33 x diameter 122 cm Materials: carved blackened maple All works are individually handmade to order. John Eric Byers...
Maple
$28,642 / item
Luna Coffee Table Sculpted by John Eric Byers
By John Eric Byers
Located in Geneve, CH
Luna coffee table sculpted by John Eric Byers. Dimensions: 40.6 x diameter 122 cm. Materials: carved blackened maple, travertine. All works are individually handmade to order. ...
Travertine
$13,019 / item
Table #14 by John Eric Byers
By John Eric Byers
Located in Geneve, CH
Table #14 by John Eric Byers Dimensions: D40 x H50 cm Materials: carved + blackened + maple All works are individually handmade to order. John Eric Byers creates geometrically insp...
Other
$10,000 / item
John Eric Byers, "Round Reveal #1", Table
By John Eric Byers
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This solid maple piece from John Eric Byers merges modern, simplified geometries with traditional craft, painstakingly hand carved and lacquered with a distinctive textured pattern t...
Maple
$14,321 / item
Maple Round Table #1 Sculpted by John Eric Byers
By John Eric Byers
Located in Geneve, CH
Maple round table #1 sculpted by John Eric Byers Dimensions: 20” x 20” x 20 in Materials: Carved lacquered maple All works are individually handmade to order. John Eric Byers...
Maple
$36,453 / item
Offset Table Sculpted by John Eric Byers
By John Eric Byers
Located in Geneve, CH
Offset table sculpted by John Eric Byers Dimensions: 33 x 117 x 190.5 cm Materials: Carved blackened maple All works are individually handmade to order. John Eric Byers creat...
Maple
$13,019 / item
Maple Round Table #2 Sculpted by John Eric Byers
By John Eric Byers
Located in Geneve, CH
Maple round table #2 sculpted by John Eric Byers Dimensions: 20” x 16” x 16 in Materials: Carved lacquered maple All works are individually handmade to order. John Eric Byers...
Maple
$13,019 / item
Pillar Table by John Eric Byers
By John Eric Byers
Located in Geneve, CH
Pillar table by John Eric Byers Dimensions: 50.8 x 50.8 x 35.5 cm Materials: Carved blackened maple All works are individually handmade to order. John Eric Byers creates geom...
Maple
$33,849 / item
Maple Low Table Sculpted by John Eric Byers
By John Eric Byers
Located in Geneve, CH
Maple low table sculpted by John Eric Byers Dimensions: 33 x 107 x 198 cm Materials: Carved blackened maple All works are individually handmade to order. John Eric Byers crea...
Maple
$28,642 / item
R3 Maple Round Low Table Sculpted by John Eric Byers
By John Eric Byers
Located in Geneve, CH
R3 maple round low table sculpted by John Eric Byers Dimensions: 33 x diameter 122 cm Materials: Carved blackened maple All works are individually handmade to order. John Eri...
Maple
$13,019 / item
Table #13 by John Eric Byers
By John Eric Byers
Located in Geneve, CH
Table #13 by John Eric Byers Dimensions: D46 x H50 cm Materials: carved + blackened + maple All works are individually handmade to order. John Eric Byers creates geometrically insp...
Other
$26,038 / set
Set of 2 Square Revert Table by John Eric Byers
By John Eric Byers
Located in Geneve, CH
Set of 2 square revert table by John Eric Byers Dimensions: 50.8 x diameter 40.6 cm Materials: Carved blackened maple All works are individually ...
Maple
$36,453 / item
Maple Round Table Sculpted by John Eric Byers
By John Eric Byers
Located in Geneve, CH
Maple round table sculpted by John Eric Byers Dimensions: 45.7 x diameter 107 cm Materials: Carved blackened maple All works are individually handmade to order. John Eric Bye...
Maple
$18,000 / set
John Eric Byers, "Round Revert", Tables or Stools
By John Eric Byers
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The Round Revert Stool or Tables are listed here as a set. Each design is also available for purchase separately at $8,000. This solid maple piece from John Eric Byers merges mode...
Maple
$2,126Sale Price / set|20% Off
H 14.97 in Dm 14.18 in
Pair of Bamboo Rattan Round Stools or Side Tables, Franco Albini Style
By Franco Albini
Located in Barcelona, ES
Italian midcentury rattan and bamboo stools, 1950s-1960s These eye-catching stools / footstools can be used as end tables, side tables or nightstands. They were entirely made by hand and have a nice construction and a clean design inspired in Michael Thonet bentwood stools...
Bamboo, Rattan, Cane
$1,050Sale Price / set|30% Off
H 18 in W 16 in D 14 in
Pair of Oak & Rattan Side Tables / Stools by McGuire Furniture Co.
By McGuire
Located in San Diego, CA
A nice pair of oak and rattan side tables / stools by McGuire Furniture Co. of San Francisco, circa 1970s. These tables are difficult to find and are in very good vintage condition. ...
Leather, Rattan, Oak
From $1,470 / item
+ 1 moreH 18.51 in W 10.63 in D 10.63 in
e15 Backenzahn Side Table by Philipp Mainzer
By e15, Philipp Mainzer
Located in New York, NY
The original Backenzahn designed in 1996 by e15 founder and architect Philipp Mainzer is a modern design classic as well as an identifiable icon for e15. Crafted in Germany, the stoo...
Wood
2-Tier Entretoise Side Table by Design Frères
By Design Frères
Located in Los Angeles, CA
2-tier 'Entretoise' side table by Design Frères. Wrought iron base with 2 thin travertine shelves. Shelves are removable for secure shippi...
Travertine, Wrought Iron
FORNASETTI Butterfly Square Side Table
By Fornasetti, Piero Fornasetti
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Vintage original square table with transfer-printed wooden top in the design of butterflies, it can be used as a side table or center table / made in Milan Italy by Fornasetti, 1970s...
Wood
$2,725 / item
H 18.9 in W 16.54 in D 20.87 in
ClassiCon Pli Low Side Table in Bronze by Victoria Wilmotte
By Victoria Wilmotte
Located in New York, NY
With the Pli side table series French designer Victoria Wilmotte brings objects of unusual crystalline elegance and astonishing geometry to living envir...
Glass
$1,634 / item
H 28.75 in W 39.65 in D 39.65 in
Kartell Invisible Square Table in Crystal by Tokujin Yoshioka
By Kartell, Tokujin Yoshioka
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Invisible Table designed by Tokujin Yoshioka combines lightness and solidity, grace and elegance and practicality and style. Its simplicity and purity of form makes it adaptable to a...
Plastic
$2,081Sale Price / item|20% Off
H 17.33 in Dm 28.35 in
Gervasoni Brise 44 Coffee Table by Federica Biase
By Federica Biasi, Gervasoni
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Outdoor conviviality is the key of one of the collections by Federica Biasi. Brise, literally breeze, aims at taking us back to that pleasant sensation when a breeze makes the summer...
Concrete
2-Tier Entretoise Side Table by Design Frères
By Design Frères
Located in Los Angeles, CA
2-tier 'Entretoise' side table by Design Frères. Wrought iron base with 2 thin travertine shelves. Shelves are removable for secure shippi...
Travertine, Wrought Iron
Sculptural Round Side Table Solid Mango Wood
Located in Jimbaran, Bali
A wonderfully sculptural round side table or stool. Its neutral pigment makes it perfect for any space. A uniquely sculptural and versatile...
Wood, Fruitwood
$5,839 / set
H 14.97 in W 14.97 in D 10.24 in
Set of Three ClassiCon Cork Side Tables Designed by Herzog & de Meuron
By Herzog & de Meuron
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, grou...
Cork
Circus Side Table by Matteo Cibic
By Matteo Cibic, Scarlet Splendour
Located in Kolkata, IN
The Circus Black and White Side Table by Matteo Cibic is a gorgeous versatile small round table, available in a range of patterns. The size ...
Resin