Nut Cracker by Pierre Vandel for Pierre Cardin, 1970s

A Pierre Vandel coffee table is a striking statement piece. High-contrast and unmistakably stylish, Vandel’s tables are sophisticated and opulent, with the visual power that Hollywood Regency and mid-century modern furnishings bring to a modern space.

Vandel was born in 1939 in Roubaix, France. He graduated around 1957 with a focus on industrial assembly and design and became part of the research teams at Ponts et Chaussées and Arts et Métiers, two respected engineering and research schools in Paris. Before entering the world of furniture, Vandel worked on projects that satisfied his curiosity and drive for experimentation, including a vertical aquarium and hi-fi systems.

Vandel’s breakthrough in furniture came a few years later. In 1969, the Marais International company bought 5,000 units of Vandel’s side tables and offered a meeting with French fashion and furniture designer Pierre Cardin. Becoming a friend and advisor, Cardin offered his support and connected Vandel to an affluent market that swooned over his glamorous designs.

Vandel’s glass coffee tables — often accented with brass frames or lacquered wood — remain among his most in-demand work. His Vertèbre chair from 1972 is one of his more elusive designs. With only 800 ever produced, half with armrests and half without, this lounge chair is coveted not only for its rarity but also for its unique spine-like frame.

Vandel’s furniture continues to be recognized for its imaginative forms and is prized by collectors as a piece of design history.

On 1stDibs, find a collection of vintage Pierre Vandel tables, seating, storage pieces and more.

Best known for creating groundbreaking fashion designs from the 1950s onward, Pierre Cardin enjoyed great success in other design fields, most notably furniture. Cardin’s chairs, cabinets, tables and other pieces share many of the keynotes of his clothing designs. They are simple, geometric, elegant and cool.

Cardin was born in a village near Venice, Italy, and raised in central France. Always interested in fashion, he left home at age 17 to train with a Vichy tailor. After the end of World War II, Cardin moved to Paris and worked for a succession of couture houses, before taking a job with Christian Dior in 1946. Cardin went solo in 1950, and quickly won attention for his novel style.

Unlike Dior’s famous New Look, Cardin’s clothes de-emphasized a woman’s curves; his breakthrough pieces like the Bubble dress had, instead, a sculptural quality. In the following decade, Cardin introduced bright tunic dresses and shifts, marketed as the Space Age look and accessorized with vinyl hats and visors.

In the 1970s Cardin expanded his design work into furniture, jewelry and automobiles. (Later, licensing agreements would put Cardin’s name on goods ranging from perfume to sunglasses.) Cardin’s furniture pieces — inspired, perhaps, by the rediscovery of Art Deco design in that decade — feature simple, symmetrical forms, lacquer and figured veneer finishes, and accents in metals such as aluminum and brass.

Whether you are looking for a vintage cocktail dress or a chest of drawers to keep it in, as you will see on 1stDibs, Pierre Cardin offers an option in either that is timelessly chic.