Late 20th Century Desks and Writing Tables

Vintage Dakota Jackson post modern Art Deco style executive partners desk featuring mahogany with leather insert and stainless steel frame. A V-Shape pattern veneer top with Black Leather inset. 2 pedestal cabinets below: each with 2 standard drawers and 1 file drawer, front and back. Polished Stainless Steel drawer pulls, post, floor plates, and arced trestle supporting desktop. DJ Chelsea Black Leather, Polished Polyresin finish. Dakota Jackson (born August 24, 1949) is an American furniture designer known for his eponymous furniture brand, Dakota Jackson, Inc.,[1] his early avant-garde works involving moving parts or hidden compartments,[2][3] and his collaborations with the Steinway & Sons piano company.[1] Jackson helped establish the art furniture movement in 1970s SoHo,[4][5] later becoming a celebrity designer in the 1980s.[6][7][8] His background in the world of stage magic helped him get his first commissions and is often cited as the source of his point-of-view.[6][9] Early life Dakota Jackson was born on August 24, 1949, and grew up in the Rego Park neighborhood of Queens, New York. Stage Magic Jackson's father, Jack Malon, was a professional magician.[10] Mr. Malon learned the trade from his own father, who studied stage magic in early 20th century Poland.[1] Jackson began studying magic at a young age and sometimes performed with his father.[11] Jackson's name, in fact, grew out of a road trip to Fargo, North Dakota.[11] Throughout his adolescence and into his early 20s, Jackson immersed himself in the world of magic.[2] In 1963, Jackson began to perform in talent shows at his junior high school, William Cowper JHS 73 (which is known today as The Frank Sansivieri Intermediate School),[12] and at children's birthday parties.[13] Jackson also began to build his own props, including large boxes for sawing a woman in half and small boxes from which doves would emerge in full flight.[11] Jackson acknowledges the importance of these early experiences with magic to his later career as a furniture designer: "The demands of performance taught me how to discipline myself to achieve aesthetic ends."[1][2][14] After Jackson graduated from Forest Hills High School in 1967, he continued performing as a magician, working in art galleries, night clubs, touring in the Catskills, and giving private performances at society events.[2][13][15] When he was 17, Jackson had studied with magician Jack London to learn the dangerous bullet catch trick.[16] "What appealed to me was the notion of doing things that appeared miraculous" Jackson once recalled.[6] "I was interested in spiritualism. I was interested in things like bullet catching, things that really challenged individual sensibilities, that were frightening, on the edge."[2] He didn't find the opportunity to perform the trick publicly until a decade later at Jackson's final professional performance as a magician.[1] It was documented in Andy Warhol's Interview (magazine), in a story titled "Dakota Jackson bites the bullet."[1][16] Jackson admits that he sometimes tires of references to his magician background, although he acknowledges it as an important part of his history.[2] The Downtown Arts Scene In the late 1960s, Jackson moved into a loft on 28th Street in Chelsea.[1][17] Jackson became part of the Downtown scene, a community of "artists, dancers, performers, and musicians" who moved to the neighborhood for the cheap rent and social life.[1][8][17][18] In October 1970, Jackson performed with the Japanese group Tokyo Kid Brothers at New York's La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (also known as Café La MaMa) in a rock musical production called "Coney Island Play" ("Konī airando purē).[19] The show explored themes of cross-cultural communication and understanding[19] and was a follow up to the group's debut performance of "The Golden Bat" at La MaMa earlier that summer.[20][21][22] Jackson played the part of a "clever conjurer."[19] Over the next few years, Jackson became interested in minimalist dance and performed in the dance companies of Laura Dean and Trisha Brown.[2][15][23] Jackson credits his exposure to minimalism and minimalist dance in particular as having had a strong influence on his approach to design; in 1989, Jackson told the Los Angeles Times: For me the essential fineness of a design is in the idea, not the object itself ... In minimalism, the object is pared down to its basic meaning by stripping away all the excrescence ... —those elements that do not contribute to the pure idea.[24] Design career In the early 1970s, as he experimented with performance and dance, Jackson began branching out as a special effects consultant to other magicians, film producers, and musicians[2][23] such as Donna Summer.[6][9] The loft also gave Jackson an opportunity to apply his creativity and building skills: "These were times when lofts were not ... luxury condominiums. These were tough, tough raw spaces ... and we artists, bohemians, creative people, we created our environment. So I had to build".[17][25] Recognizing his skills as a builder, Jackson decided to shift away from performance and become a full-time maker.[1][15][17] He began making a variety of objects, including furnishings for other artists and magic boxes with hidden compartments for art collectors and galleries.[17][24] Jackson's social connections helped spread word about his work[15] and this led to his first commissions.[1] Early Commissions Desk for John Lennon by Dakota Jackson In 1974, Jackson's career as a designer began when Yoko Ono asked him to build a desk with hidden compartments for husband John Lennon.[26] "She wanted to make a piece of furniture that would be a mystical object; that would be like a Chinese puzzle," Jackson recalled in a 1986 interview published in the Chicago Tribune.[6] The result was a small cubed-shaped writing table with rounded corners reminiscent of Art Deco era style.[15] Touching secret pressure points opened the desk's compartments.[23] This commission helped build Jackson's reputation and allowed him to merge his experience as a magician and performer with his developing interest in furniture.[27] In 1978, a bed designed for fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg garnered Jackson even more notoriety.[8][10][28] [29] Called "The Eclipse", the bed was described in The New Yorker as "large, astounding, sumptuous, with sunbursts of cherry wood and quilted ivory satin at head and foot."[10] A lighting system positioned behind the headboard switched on automatically at sunset and spread out rays of light "like an aurora borealis,"[2][17] which grew brighter and brighter until turning off at 2 am.[23][30] Commissions like these continued to come in[8] and Jackson soon became known as a designer to the rich and famous.[30] Some of his other clients from this period included songwriter Peter Allen, Saturday Night Live creator and producer Lorne Michaels, Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, and soap opera actress Christine Jones.[8] The American Art Furniture Movement and the Industrial Style In the late 1970s, Jackson was among a small group of artists and artisans producing and exhibiting hand-made furniture in New York.[5][31] Jackson and his peers were part of the "American Art Furniture Movement," a group sometimes called the "Art et Industrie Movement,"[32] named after the leading art furniture gallery of the era,[32] Art et Industrie, founded by Rick Kaufmann in 1976.[33] In a 1984 Town & Country article titled "Art You Can Sit On," Kaufmann said he created the gallery to "serve as a locus to the public for artists and designers creating new decorative arts."[31] The works on display were "radical objects" that drew from a number of fine art traditions, including "Pop, Surrealism, Pointillism and Dada [which were] "thrown together with the severe lines of the Bauhaus and the Russian avant-garde, mixed with Mondrian's color and filtered through a video sensibility—all to create a new statement."[31] The article described Jackson as a "ten-year veteran of the genre" and pointed to the "clean forms and quiet colors" of his furniture.[4] Jackson showed a variety of industrial-looking lacquer, metal, and glass works at Art et Industrie, including his Standing Bar (also known as the Modern Bar),[33] a lacquered cabinet that Jackson designed in 1978 for his wife (then-girlfriend) RoseLee Goldberg.[13] Other works from this period include the T-Bird Desk, Self-Winding Cocktail Table, and the Saturn Stool...

This vintage custom made sensational floating desk with 2 drawers has a recessed glass top that floats on steel pegs around the entire desk; the 2 part lucite sides come together with a steel round disk at center at the back and the white lacquered drawers float on the left hand side with chrome...

Set of two Andalusian chairs in yellow ocre polychrome wood with birds From the 1980´s Very Romantic with a chalky classic finish for interiors with a soft country style Upholstery ...

Le Corbusier L6 style table base for Cassina. Selling without glass.

Straight-lined desk in a clear design by French designer Jean Claude Mahey. The object is made entirely of beech wood and is very heavy. The desk has 3 drawers with folding brass ha...

Designed by Massimo Scolari for Giorgetti in 1994, the Zeno desk is a fantastic example of modern Italian design. The desk is construc...

A stunning secretary desk with bookcase by top-quality furniture maker Craftique, in the style of early American John Hancock desks. Solid mahogany with their Old Wood finish, brass ...

Vintage French Louis XV Style Figural Bronze Ormolu Leather Top Bureau Plat Writing Desk. Item featured is a large impressive size, stunning bronze figural female bust mounts on all ...

Scandinavian desk by Erik Brouer for Brouer Mobelfabrik, Denmark 70's

Rena Dumas (1937-2009) & Peter Coles (1955-1985) in collaboration with Hermès Pippa Travel desk and folding stool Pearwood, leather and brass Edition Hermès Stamped 'P.R. Hermès Pari...

Desk with leather and wood top and chromed metal legs designed by Hans Von Klier in the 70s. Wear due to time and age of the desk.

A late 1970s Northern Italian Modernist desk in marble, steel and leather custom built for a high end jewellers in Milan.

Marc van Rampelberg, freestanding writing desk, iroko, Kenya, 1980s. This solid Iroko freestanding desk is manufactured in Kenya and designed by the Belgian designer Marc van Rampe...

Ernest Igl for Bayer AG, 'Hadi' desk, set including adjustable chair and lamp, polyurethane, Germany, 1970s This design by Ernest Igl truly resembles the ethos of the seventies, fe...

East meets West, Bamboo meets Lacquer. Add a generous helping of mid-century charm to your surroundings with this Bamboo & Lacquer Campaign Desk by Murio. Serve your workspace needs ...

Standard Furniture Mid Century Walnut and Brass Executive Desk This desk measures: 66 wide x 36 deep x 29 high, with a chair clearance of 24.5 inches All pieces of furniture can be...

Poul Nørreklit desk model GP 160 by Georg Petersens Møbelfabrik, Denmark Rare and collectible lucite and rosewood desk. Lucite slab sides with beautifully grained Rosewood case, luc...

A very rare desk/dining table designed by Mario Botta, model “Tesi”, manufactured by Alias in, Italy around 1980. This eye-catching piece has a clear glass rectangular top allows th...

This is a beautiful American-made desk with age -crackled leather and a nice original ebonized frame and gold pinstriping with brass ormolu. Measures 67 wide x 30 tall x 33.25 deep...

Introducing an exceptional vintage centerpiece for your workspace – this Scandinavian Modern Teak Desk. Drawing inspiration from iconic mid-century Danish design, this desk embodies ...

Mahogany and burr leather top pedestal desk circa 1990. Good example of a 19th century designed desk. Which is in 3 sections, being the top and 2 pedestals. Top surface with green ...

Elegant desk by Guy Lefèvre dating from the 1970s. Its chrome metal structure and black lacquered wooden box are typical of the French style of the 1970s. Just like Maison Jansen, Ro...

A stylish petite desk. France, c1970s. In the manner of Maison Regian. Likely to be elm or very well simulated elm wood. Ideal as a desk or vanity unit. Good condition gene...

One of the most influential Italian designers of the twentieth century, Giancarlo Piretti’s chair designs – for which he is most celebrated – have sold millions worldwide. Piretti’s...

W60 D31.5 H29.25 KC26 Contemporary desk in great gently used condition. Item is structurally sound and sturdy with no large areas of wear. Item features one minimal drawer that hide...

Table height: 50 cm. Total height with the head: 80 cm Good condition. Some chips on the top.

An exceptional French Regency Louis XVI style bureau plat desk or writing desk By Theodore Alexander, "Ateliers de la Madeleine" Circa Late 20th Century Painted walnut case, with ...

Large varnished wood desk by Spanish designer Ricardo Bofill for Habitat, 1980s. The desk features numerous storage compartments throughout the structure. Very good condition. LP2034

- Item was carefully refurbished - sturdy and stable - mahogany veneer

Rare project by the Japanese architect and designer Kazuhide Takahama for Gavina. Metal base, top covered with billiard cloth. It can easily be used both as a desk and as a dining t...

Mid-Century Modern T333 Desk by Oslvado Borsani and Eugenio Gerli for Tecno, Italy, 1975

Guido Faleschini writing desk for Mariani, 1970 Strong and stable, important office desk by Guido Faleschini. Glass shelf, aluminum profiles and alcantara upholstery. Aluminum 8-draw...

This Vintage Scandinavian Modern Teak Executive Desk from Jesper Furniture makes a timeless masterpiece that combines elegant design with exceptional craftsmanship. Crafted with rich...

Mid-Century Modern Desk by Afra and Tobia Scarpa, Stildomus 1970s

An oak desk designed by Bohumil Landsman, produced during the 1970's in former Czechoslovakia by a furniture factory Jitona. A striking design. Surfaces cleaned, stained and lacquer...

Rare stainless steel desk circa 1970. A thick glass top is on top of a stainless steel frame which adapts to the 2 legs. Very pure design, great quality and condition.

A simple modern nod to the art deco period. This desk features glossy black laminate with brass accents. Probably Italian circa 1980's. Nice clean original condition.

The desk, produced in the 1970s by Anonima Castelli of Bologna, is an authentic vintage piece in impeccable condition, crafted entirely from fine Palisander wood. Its design includes...

Late 20th Century campaign style desk. Features a rectangular form with brown tooled leather top and two drawers in the frieze. Each drawer has brass lion knocker pulls. The desk is ...

Mid-Century Modern Wooden and Chrome Desk, Italy, 1970s

Elinor and John McGuire set for Lyda Levi: desk with bamboo director’s chair, leather bindings, brass and canvas details. San Francisco 1970s. Product details Desk dimensions: 85 W x...

Impressive extra large vintage burgundy red lacquered wood and brass presidential desk by Jean Claude Mahey, France ca. 1970s Rare in these dimensions. Signed with brass label on the...

vintage desk desk 70's adjustable period 70s design unknown Sweden condition good signs of use; scratches; discoloration; size 71 (highest position)...

c. 1980s. Bent birch legs and inset linoleum top. Comes with connectors to join multiple tables together.

Organic Orange Fiberglass "BAOBAB" Style Desk Attributed To Philippe Starck. This Organic Freeform Fiberglass Design Is Often Attributed To The Famous Designer. This Beautiful Desk I...

All black lacquered postmodern writing desk with a storage cabinet and drawer with organizer by Interlubke, Germany 1980s.

Campaign style desk designed by John Van Koert for Drexel. The desk is supported by gold crossed wood supports with a gilt finish. The top portion offers cubby-hole storage on either...

Mid-Century Modern Desk by Florence Knoll for Knoll international Biography : Born to a baker, and orphaned at age twelve, Florence Schust grew up Saginaw, Michigan. Schust demons...

Outstanding studded detail teak desk. An almost architectural feel to the proportions and construction. Some light marking in places as to be expected, see photos. France 1970s L...

A leather top writing desk with brass accent on the edge and three drawers

Everyone here on team FMV adores this desk. We don't know much (if anything) about the origin, maker or designer, but it's awesome nonetheless. Similar to the Henredon "Scene Two" ...

System table Unique piece, special order, Circa 1970 White and orange lacquered wood Height 77 x Width 100 x Length 81 (162 cm open) Condition report: good original condition, so...

Embrace the charm of coastal living with our Vintage Coastal Pretzel Rattan Desk and Chair Set, exuding timeless American style and crafted for both comfort and elegance. Bring a tou...

Impressive mid century modern writing desk or console table having whitewashed carved wood with lattice pattern and finished on top with leather and chrome. Chunky legs with Asian f...

Theodore Alexander "Chateau du Vallois" French Provincial Writing Desk. Features a serpentine form made from mahogany with tooled leather surfaces. Includes three dovetailed drawers ...

Designed by noted designer Guy LeFevre who worked extensively with Maison Jansen in the 1970s, this handsome desk incorporates many of his signature details. The base and hardware ar...

Dyrlund. Desk, model 'Space' with side table and drawer module in lacquered wood, handle and legs in steel. Desk D. 95 cm, L. 200 cm, H. 73 cm, side table H. 61 cm, W. 120 cm, D. 40 ...

Glass desk, Italy 1980 Product details Dimensions: 150 W x 72 H x 70.5 D cm