PrimoPiano Modern Tables

TL30 table with a round top in wood and a base in black lacquered metal, designed by Franco Albini and produced by Poggi in the 1950s. After spending his childhood and part of his youth in Robbiate in Brianza, where he was born in 1905, Franco Albini moved with his family to Milan. Here he enrolled in the Faculty of Architecture of the Polytechnic and graduated in 1929. He starts his professional activity in the studio of Gio Ponti and Emilio Lancia, with whom he collaborates for three years. He probably had his first international contacts here In those three years, the works carried out are admittedly of a twentieth-century imprint. It was the meeting with Edoardo Persico that marked a clear turning point towards rationalism and the rapprochement with the group of editors of “Casabella”. The new phase that that meeting provoked starts with the opening of the first professional studio in via Panizza with Renato Camus and Giancarlo Palanti. The group of architects began to deal with public housing by participating in the competition for the Baracca neighborhood in San Siro in 1932 and then creating the Ifacp neighborhoods: Fabio Filzi (1936/38), Gabriele D’Annunzio and Ettore Ponti (1939). Also in those years Albini worked on his first villa Pestarini. But it is above all in the context of the exhibitions that the Milanese master experiments his compromise between that “rigor and poetic fantasy” coining the elements that will be a recurring theme in all the declinations of his work – architecture, interiors, design pieces . The opening in 1933 of the new headquarters of the Triennale in Milan, in the Palazzo dell’Arte, becomes an important opportunity to express the strong innovative character of rationalist thought, a gym in which to freely experiment with new materials and new solutions, but above all a “method”. Together with Giancarlo Palanti, Albini on the occasion of the V Triennale di Milano sets up the steel structure house, for which he also designs the ‘furniture. At the subsequent Triennale of 1936, marked by the untimely death of Persico, together with a group of young designers gathered by Pagano in the previous edition of 1933, Franco Albini takes care of the preparation of the exhibition of the house, in which the furniture of three types of accommodation. The staging of Stanza per un uomo, at that same Triennale, allows us to understand the acute and ironic approach that is part of Albini, as a man and as a designer: the theme addressed is that of the existenzminimum and the reference of the project is to the fascist myth of the athletic and sporty man, but it is also a way to reflect on low-cost housing, the reduction of surfaces to a minimum and respect for the way of living. In that same year Albini and Romano designed the Ancient Italian Goldsmith’s Exhibition: vertical uprights, simple linear rods, design the space. A theme, that of the “flagpole”, which seems to be the center of the evolution of his production and creative process. The concept is reworked over time, with the technique of decomposition and recomposition typical of Albinian planning: in the setting up of the Scipio Exhibition and of contemporary drawings (1941) the tapered flagpoles, on which the paintings and display cases are hung, are supported by a grid of steel cables; in the Vanzetti stand (1942) they take on the V shape; in the Olivetti store in Paris (1956) the uprights in polished mahogany support the shelves for displaying typewriters and calculators. The reflection on this theme arises from the desire to interpret the architectural space, to read it through the use of a grid, to introduce the third dimension, the vertical one, while maintaining a sense of lightness and transparency. The flagpole is found, however, also in areas other than the exhibition ones. In the apartments he designed, it is used as a pivot on which the paintings can be suspended and rotated to allow different points of view, but at the same time as an element capable of dividing spaces. The Veliero bookcase...

Set of two coffee tables with a black pedestal base in painted die-cast aluminum and an oval-shaped top in white lacquered wood. These two tables were manufactured in the 1990s in the style of the designer Eero Saarinen Eero Saarinen was a Finnish-born-American architect born on August 20, 1910. Son of an architect and sculptor, Eero went to public schools in Michigan and in 1929 joined Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris to study studied sculpturing. Later he studied architecture at Yale University from 1931 to 1934 and won a chance to travel around Europe and North Africa from 1934 to 1935. Eero started off his professional life from the United States by doing research about housing and city planning with the Flint Institute of Research and Planning in Michigan, in 1936. After working here for two years he joined his father’s firm in 1938. The first international recognition for Eero came during his collaboration with his father. It started off with a chair design and later in time, this duo of father and son managed to win many other competitions for their innovative designs and projects. Furthermore, he went on with furniture design for quite a long period of time. After the death of his father in 1950, Saarinen founded his own firm ‘Eero Saarinen & Associates’ in Birmingham, worked there until the time of his death in 1961. During this time he dedicated a huge chunk of his time for furniture design and other home furnishing design ideas. Some of his major architectural structures and contributions to the field of design are: the Bell Labs...

Round pedestal dining table model UFO with a base in brushed steel and tabletop in thick glass with a black enamel decorative circle. Designed by Luigi Saccardo and manufactured by Maison Jansen in the 1970s. Maison Jansen was a Paris-based interior decoration office founded in 1880 by Dutch-born Jean-Henri Jansen. From its beginnings, Maison Jansen combined traditional furnishings with influences of new trends including Anglo-Japanese style, the Arts and Crafts movement, and Turkish style. The firm paid great attention to historical research with which it attempted to balance clients' desires for livable, usable, and often dramatic space. Within ten years the firm had become a major purchaser of European antiques, and by 1890 had established an antique gallery as a separate firm that acquired and sold antiques to Jansen's clients and its competitors as well. In the early 1920s Jean-Henri Jansen approached Stéphane Boudin, who was then working in the textile trimming business owned by his father and brought him on board. Accounts of the arrangement vary. Speculation existed that Boudin was able to provide financial solvency to the prominent but capital-poor atelier. Boudin's attention to detail, concern for historical accuracy, and ability to create dramatic and memorable spaces brought increasing new work to the firm. Boudin was made director and presided over an expansion of the firm's offices and income. Not originally equipped with its own workrooms for producing furniture the firm began by relying upon antiques and the furniture contracted to outside cabinetmakers. By the early 1890s Maison Jansen had established its own manufacturing capacity producing furniture of contemporary design, as well as reproductions, primarily in the Louis XIV, Louis XVI, Directoire, and Empire styles. Throughout the firm's history, it employed a traditional style drawing upon European design, but influence of contemporary trends including the Vienna Secession, Modernism, and Art Deco has also appeared in Jansen interiors and in much of the custom furniture the firm produced between 1920 and 1950. Under Boudin's leadership, Maison Jansen provided services to the royal families of Belgium, Iran, and Serbia; Elsie de Wolfe, and Lady Olive Baillie's Leeds Castle...

Occasional table with structure in wood with a removable center part in sheet metal and a rectangular shaped table top, designe by Gio Ponti and produced by Figli di Amedeo Cassina...

Round dining table with a base in chromed tubular steel and smoked glass on top, designed by Giotto Stoppino, Italian Manufacture from the 1970s. This table can used as a dining tab...

Platone folding table or desk with structure in chromed steel and die-cast aluminum, table top in black ABS. Designed by Giancarlo Piretti and produced b...

Set of three nesting tables with structure in steel, feet, and table tops in resin, designed by Gaetano Pesce and produced by Fish Design in 1999. Dimensions: Blue; H38,5 x 40 x 40 cm Red; H30 x 40 x 40 cm Yellow; H23 x 40 x 40 cm Gaetano Pesce is a prominent contemporary Italian designer and architect known for his bold experimentation with materials and color. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with some of Italy's leading design companies, including Artemide, Vitra, Cassina, and B&B Italia. Born in 1939 in La Spezia, near Genoa, Pesce enrolled at the University of Venice in 1959 to study architecture and graduated in 1965. During the final years of his studies, he also participated in courses at the Venice College of Industrial Design, where he was influenced by distinguished faculty members like Ernesto Nathan Rogers and Mario Bellini. Encouraged by their teachings to embrace innovation in modern design, Pesce became involved with an avant-garde architectural collective called “Gruppo N,” which drew inspiration from the streamlined aesthetics of the Bauhaus. These diverse inspirations equipped Pesce to embrace contemporary materials and explore the forms they enabled. His designs range from small decorative objects to large architectural spaces and reflect deep contemplation of the modern era. Notable works include his iconic La Mamma chair...

Ara console table with a wooden structure and a glass top, was designed by Lella and Massimo Vignelli and manufactured by Driade in 1974. Licterature: G. Gramigna, Repertorio del De...

Extendable Chelsea dining table with a square tabletop and a pyramidal base entirely made in walnut wood and metal details. It was designed by Vittorio Introini and produced by S...

Sunny round-shaped table with a structure in wood, tabletop in smoked glass, and metal details. Designed by Giovanni Offredi and produced by Saporiti in the 1970s. The manufacturer's label is present on the table base. The Sunny table can accommodate from 2 up to 4 seats. It's easily adaptable to different ambiance and spaces. Giovanni Offredi was a prominent Italian furniture and product designer of the second half of the 20th century. As opposed to most of the other Italian furniture designers of his time, Giovanni Offredi was not an architect, nor did he start designing early in his professional career. Instead, Offredi partially fits the career path of some of the talented contemporary designers who pursue product design outside of formal education in architecture. The earliest furniture design work known by Giovanni Offredi consists of exemplary furnishings made specifically for some of wealthy families in Milan. Such is the case of the works done by Offredi for Casa C., in 1960, in Gorgonzola, a small town 14 miles from Milan. These works were designed with a surprisingly minimal simplicity and elegance, and they also clearly display a hallmark of his design work with the use of angular lines and exposed metal or wood frames—not unlike some of the modern Scandinavian designs of the time. In the late 1960s, Giovanni Offredi met Sergio Saporiti, the owner of an Italian design shop and furniture maker Saporiti, and in 1970, Offredi formalized a partnership with the furniture maker. This partnership would be long and successful and resulted in many furniture designs of distinct precision that were clearly modern and innovative and that went on to enjoy considerable commercial success. The most prominent furniture designs that Offredi made for Saporiti include the Paracarro table...

Console table with a base in black lacquered metal and an ovoidal table top in granite, originally designed by Aimaro Oreglia d'Isola and Roberto Gabetti f...

A Mid-Century Modern console table with a structure in black lacquered wood and a tabletop in Zebrino marble, Italian manufacture from the 1950s. The console table presents a single...

Torbecchia dining room set is composed of four chairs, one table, and one bench. The table and the bench were made in walnut wood, the chairs have a structure in walnut wood and wove...

A living room set composed of an oval-shaped oak gateleg table with metal details, designed by Borge Mogensen and produced by Karl Andersson & Soner, as well as a set of eight wishbo...

Low rectangular shaped table with a frontal drawer realized in wood with a glass on top, originally designed for the offices of the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL) Italian manufactu...

Square Brugiana table with a base in white Carrara marble and geometric elements in arabescato, green Alpi, sandstone, and red Levanto marble, glass on top with a white Carrara marbl...

A round coffee table in walnut wood, colored ground crystal on top, and brass legs. Designed by Osvaldo Borsani and produced by Atelier Borsani, Varedo, in the 1960s. This mid-centur...

Cubic-shaped cart with wheels with frame realized in metal which present a circular void on each side, the top and the bottom of the cart has realized in glass. The cart was design...

Traccia side table with structure in polished cast bronze, elliptical top in plywood finished with fine yellow gold leaf. Traccia table was origi...

Arcadia 100 low coffee table with a rectangular shape (the squareshaped model 80 also exists) designed in 1969 by the famous Italian designer Vico Magistretti and produced by Artemide starting from 1970. The coffee table is made of reinforced resin. More exactly the material used is called GRP (Glass fibre Reinforced Plastic), a very resistant thermosetting plastic material consisting of a thick meshwork of glass fibres impregnated with polyester resin. The item is characterized by its S-shaped legs typical of the Magistretti's design poetics (shapes used in many other furnishings from the Selene chair to the Chimera lamp...

Cicognino coffee table entirely made in teak wood designed by Franco Albini in 1952 and firstly produced by the Italian company, Poggi Pavia from the 1950s. The Cicognino coffee t...

Extendable dining table in wood designed by Ilmari Tapiovaara in the 1970s. This rare table presents a rectangular top with elegant rounded edges. The table top fits to the base wi...

Very rare set of four low tables round-shaped, model 780/783 with a black lacquered wooden frame with a reversible top in black and white plastic laminate, designed by Gianfranco Frattini and manufactured by Cassina in 1960s. The tables present different heights so it can be possible to be stackable to form one cylindrical block. Frattini was born in Padova in 1926, he graduated in Architecture at the Politecnico di Milano in 1953, where he opened his first professional studio after working in Gio Ponti’s studio, his master and mentor. He worked in the field of architecture and design, with a particular interest in interior design, and attended many exhibitions and events. In 1956 he was between the founders of ADI (Association for Industrial Design) for which he created several pieces. His creations range from furnishing to lamps, marked by an essential and rigorous style. Wood was undoubtedly his preferred material, he knew its features and crafted it passionately. Among his best sellers, the 780/783 set of stacking tables for Cassina, the Sesann armchair for Tacchini, the Albero bookcase...

Torcello table in walnut wood designed in 1964 by Tobia and Afra Scarpa, produced by Stildomus in 1970s Literature: G. Gramigna, Repertorio del design ...

Round table model T72 in wood, black lacquered metal and brass details, designed by Ettore Sottsass and produced by Poltronova in the late 1950s. The T72 table has a strong base mad...

High work table in oak wood designed by Giuseppe Rivadossi and produced by Officine Rivadossi in 1973. Originally realized for a fabrics Atelier in Brescia (Italy), this table presen...

Valmarana table in ash wood designed by Carlo Scarpa and produced by Simon Gavina in the 1970s. Carlo Scarpa is a renowned architect with deep ties to Venice, where he was born and...

Round table model La Rosa dei Venti, part of the Mobili nella Valle series, it's entirely realized in pinewood, with inlays on table-top, it was designed by Mario Ceroli and produced by Poltronova in the 1970s. The beautiful inlays on the table top represent a compass rose, it's a figure that can be found on a compass, map, nautical chart, or also a monument used to display the orientation of the cardinal directions (north, east, south, and west) and their intermediate points. Rosa dei Venti is a masterpiece of Ceroli and it's very precious to the artist to its intrinsic meaning, directly connected with the cardinal points and our planet. Behind the homage to this element lurks the desire of Ceroli to reconcile the majesty of the wood with the limitless of the sea. Manufacturer's brand marked with fire on the table structure. Literature: Giuliana Gramigna, "Repertorio del Design Italiano 1950-2000", Allemandi, 2011, p. 214.   Mario Ceroli (1938) is one of the most influential artists of the Italian post-war period. Ceroli graduated from 'Accademia delle Belle Arti' in Rome, where he studied with Leoncillo, Fazzini and Colla. In the early stages of Ceroli's career he concentrated on ceramics and in 1958, he exhibited these works at the Premium Spoleto. In the same year Ceroli held his first solo exhibition at Galeria San Sebastinello of Rome. During 1959 he began to experiment with new materials, particularly with raw wood, such as Russian pinewood. He used these materials to create silhouetted shapes in his furniture and objects that related simplistically to the surrounding space. Ceroli relates back to the traditional medieval craftsmen, focusing on an overall and overwhelming attraction that holds a dialogue with the spectator. Between 1967-1968, Ceroli took part in exhibitions related to the "Arte de Povera" group. He had also been involved as screenplay director collaborating with "II Teatro Stabile" in Turin and with "La Scala" In Milan. Characteristically Ceroli's designs are dramatic and sculptural, with exaggerated forms and bold lines and often paying tribute to historical artworks. One of Ceroli's major works was his 'Mobili nella Valle' series, inspired directly by De Chirico's 1927 painting...

Luar (TLR.2) low table with frame in steel and table top in thick glass designed by Ross Littell in 1965 and produced by ICF in the 1970s. The Luar collection designed by Littell, i...

Oval-shape table from Artona series in wood with brass details, designed by Tobia and Afra Scarpa produced by Maxalto, 1970s. Tobia Scarpa and his wife Afra Bianchin began their lon...

Set of two luminous side table/cabinet bar in black lacquered wood, these piece presents two openable opposite doors and inner shelves. Designed by Massimo and Lella Vignelli and p...

Saratoga luminous side table/cabinet bar in black lacquered wood, this piece presents two openable opposite doors and inner shelves. Designed by Massimo and Lella Vignelli and prod...

Tobio low square shaped table with a leather lined wooden top cylindrical base in black plastic. Designed by Tobia and Afra Scarpa in the 1970s and produced by B&B Italia. Tobia S...

La Rotonda round-shaped table in walnut wood, designed by Mario Bellini in 1976 and produced by Cassina. La Rotonda table is an exquisite fusion of ...

Console table with shelves and lateral decorative inlays entirely made in wood, designed by the French designer and craftsman Pierre Chapo, French Manufacture from 1960s Pierre Chapo was first interested in painting, his encounter with a shipbuilding carpenter in 1947, introduced him to wood and woodworking; and led him to architectural studies at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. After traveling through Scandinavia, and Central America and working for a year in the United States, he returned to Paris and pursued his interest in wood, crafting furniture mainly out of solid oak, elm, ash or teak with a double concern for contemporary design and traditional know-how. He opened a gallery on boulevard de l'Hôpital in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, where along with his own creations, he displayed the work of other craftsmen or artists such as Isamu Noguchi with whom he shared a sculptural and organic approach to design. Special custom orders started coming in, Samuel Beckett...

Low table with a round-shaped table top in white marble and four metal legs from the Parallel Bar series, designed by Florence Knoll and manufactured by Knoll International during the 1950s. Born to a baker, and orphaned at age twelve, Florence Schust grew up in Saginaw, Michigan. Schust demonstrated an early interest in architecture and was enrolled at the Kingswood School for Girls, adjacent to the Cranbrook Academy of Art. While at Kingswood, Florence befriended Eilel Saarinen, whom she would later study under at Cranbrook. Warmly embraced by the Saarinen family, Florence vacationed with them in Finland, enjoyed the company of their accomplished friends, and formed a very close relationship with Eliel’s son, Eero. The connections she made and the skills she developed while at Cranbrook were the foundations of Florence Schust’s incredible design education and pioneering career. With recommendations from Eliel Saarinen and Alvar Aalto, Florence went on to study under some of the greatest 20th century architects, including Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe at the Illinois Institute of Technology. In 1941 Florence moved to New York where she met Hans Knoll who was establishing his furniture company. With Florence’s design skills and Hans’ business acumen and salesmanship, the pair, who married in 1946, grew the nascent company into an international arbiter of style and design. Florence also seeded contributions with her friends Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, and Mies van der Rohe. In creating the revolutionary Knoll Planning Unit, Florence Knoll defined the standard for the modern corporate interiors of post-war America. Drawing on her background in architecture, she introduced modern notions of efficiency, space planning, and comprehensive design to office planning. Florence ardently maintained that she did not merely decorate space. She created it. The Planning Unit rigorously researched and surveyed each client — assessing their needs, defining patterns of use and understanding company hierarchies — before presenting a comprehensive design, informed by the principles of modernism and beautifully executed in signature Knoll style. Florence and the Planning Unit were responsible for the interiors of some of America’s largest corporations, including IBM, GM and CBS. As part of her work with the Planning Unit, Florence frequently contributed furniture designs to the Knoll catalog...

Dining table with a beautiful base in steel and top in thick glass, designed by Vittorio Introini and manufactured by Saporiti in the 1970s. The table present an elegant and beautif...