Gae Aulenti Coffee Table Fontana Arte Cristal Top and Stem Wheels

About the Item
- Creator:Gae Aulenti (Designer),Fontana Arte (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 10.24 in (26 cm)Width: 45.67 in (116 cm)Depth: 27.56 in (70 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1970
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Lucca, IT
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU3145319008582
Gae Aulenti
The Italian architect and designer Gae Aulenti will forever be best remembered for her work with museums, in particular her 1980–86 renovation of a Beaux Arts Paris train station to create the galleries of the Musée d’Orsay. Aulenti — whose first name, short for Gaetana, is pronounced “guy” — should also be recalled for her tough intellectual spirit and for working steadily when few women found successful architectural careers in postwar Italy.
After she graduated from the Milan Polytechic in 1954, Aulenti opened an architectural office. She also joined the staff of the progressive architectural magazine Casabella, whose editorial line was that the establishment, orthodox modernism of Le Corbusier and the Bauhaus, had outlived it usefulness. When their movement for fresh approaches to architecture and design received a sympathetic hearing, Aulenti found patrons — most prominently Gianni Agnelli, of Fiat, who later employed her to renovate the Palazzo Grassi in Venice for use as an arts exhibition space.
Commissions for showrooms and other corporate spaces brought Aulenti to furniture design. She felt that furniture should never dominate a room. Her chairs and sofas — low-slung, with rounded enameled metal frames and ample seats — and tables, particularly her 1972 marble Jumbo coffee table for Knoll, project solidity and sturdiness. In lighting design, however, Aulenti is bravura. Each work has a marvelous sculptural presence. Pieces such as her Pipistrello table lamp and Quadrifoglio pendant are a perfect marriage of organically shaped glass and high-tech fixtures. Others have a futuristic elegance — and some even have a touch of personality. Aulenti’s Pileino and La Ruspa table lamps each look almost like little robots. Her lighting pieces are an artful grace note in the career of a woman who believed in strength.
Fontana Arte
Best known for its elegant and innovative vintage lighting fixtures, the Milan-based firm Fontana Arte pioneered one of the key features of 20th-century and contemporary Italian design: the union of artistry and industry wrought by partnerships between creative talents — chiefly architects — and entrepreneurial businesses. Fontana Arte is further distinguished by having had as artistic director, in succession, four of Italy’s most inventive modernist designers: Gio Ponti, Pietro Chiesa, French transplant Max Ingrand and Gae Aulenti.
The bread and butter of the glassmaking company that Luigi Fontana founded in 1881 was plate-glass panels for the construction industry. In 1930, Fontana met Ponti — then the artistic director of the Richard Ginori ceramics workshop and the editor of the influential magazine Domus — at a biannual design exhibition that became the precursor to today’s Milan Design Triennale, and the two hatched an idea for a furniture and housewares firm. Fontana Arte was incorporated in 1932 with Ponti as its chief of design. He contributed several lamps that remain among the company’s signature works, including the orb-atop-cone Bilia table lamp and the 0024 pendant — a stratified hanging sphere.
The following year, Fontana Arte partnered with the influential Milan studio glassmaker and retailer Pietro Chiesa, who took over as artistic director. Chiesa’s designs for lighting — as well as for tables and items including vases and ashtrays — express an appreciation for fluidity and simplicity of line, as seen in works such as his flute-shaped Luminator floor lamp and the 1932 Fontana table — an arched sheet of glass that is held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
Six years after Chiesa’s 1948 death, the École des Beaux Arts–trained Max Ingrand took over as head of design at Fontana Arte. Ingrand brought a similarly expressive formal sensibility to wares such as lamps and mirrors, but he also had a masterful eye for the manipulation of glass surfaces — whether they be cut, frosted, acid-etched or sand-blasted. His classic design is the Fontana table lamp of 1954, which has a truncated cone shade and curved body, both of which are made of pure, chic white-frosted glass.
Following Ingrand, the often-audacious Italian architect Gae Aulenti served as the company’s artistic director from 1979 to 1996, and while she generally insisted that furnishings take second place aesthetically to architecture, she made an exception for Fontana Arte pieces such as the Tavolo con Ruote series of glass coffee and dining tables on wheels, bold lighting pieces such as the Parola series and the Giova, a combination flower vase and table lamp. As a key incubator of modern design under Aulenti’s tenure, Fontana Arte remained true to its long-held commitment — creating objects that have never been less than daring.
Find vintage Fontana Arte lighting fixtures such as pendants, table lamps and more on 1stDibs.

- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Lucca, Italy
- Return Policy
A return for this item may be initiated within 14 days of delivery.
- Fontana Arte Style Mirror AttributedBy Fontana ArteLocated in Lucca, ITThe modernist mirror in the style of Fontana Arte exquisite crafted, large mirror produced in the style of Fontana Arte leader in the furniture sector, with its elegant and essential...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Post-Modern Wall Mirrors
MaterialsMirror
- Ico Parisi Trolley With Wheels and Tray Italy from Stildomus 1960sBy Ico Parisi, StildomusLocated in Lucca, ITIco Parisi Service table in rosewood Mid-Century Modern Italy. The table has the top that detaches and becomes a comfortable tray it is in rosewood, has wheels and an essential and...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsWood
- 2 Ischia Lighting Pendant by Pianon Alessandro, for Castle, Fontana Arte 1960sBy Alessandro PianonLocated in Lucca, IT2 Ischia pendant lighting of Alessandro Pianon, from Castle, Fontana Arte Venice, 1960, Italy.Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsMetal
- Amanta Cofee-Table by Mario Bellini from C&BBy C&B Italia, Mario BelliniLocated in Lucca, ITAmanta Table. Coffee Table model Amanta by Mario Bellini from C&B Italia 1960s This Amanta Table is marked.Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsPlastic
- Pierluigi Colli from Cristal Art, 1950s MirrorBy Pier Luigi Colli, Cristal ArteLocated in Lucca, ITBig mirror with console in cristal and brass by Pier Luigi Colli, 1950s, from Cristal Art Italy. Pezzo storico ed elegante della produzione Italiana . Lo specchio è inciso , molato d...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Floor Mirrors and Full-Length M...
MaterialsBrass
- Paolo Buffa CoffeeTable Italy Mid-Century ModernBy Paolo BuffaLocated in Lucca, ITPaolo Buffa Coffee Table Italy Mid -Century Modern ,The round CoffeeTable is very italian Style is very nice , for all home .Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsNutwood
- Gae Aulenti Fontana Arte Bicycle Tour Coffee TableBy Gae AulentiLocated in New York, NYGae Aulenti (Italian, 1927 - 2012) for Fontana Arte Postmodern design 'Bicycle Tour' coffee table, square glass top on four metal mount wheels, circa 1980. Dimensions: 18" H x 40" W...Category
Late 20th Century Post-Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsMetal
- Gae Aulenti for Fontana Arte Glass Coffee Table with WheelsLocated in Encino, CAGae Aulenti for Fontana Arte glass coffee table with black lacquered rubber wheels. Thick crystal top mounted on four black lacquered ...Category
1990s Italian Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsCut Glass
- Tavolo con ruote coffee table by Gae Aulenti for Fontana Arte 1980By Fontana Arte, Gae AulentiLocated in PARIS, FRThis coffee table was designed by Gae Aulenti for the famous Italian publishing house Fontana Arte. This designer and architect has designed numerous projects, including the interior...Category
Vintage 1980s Industrial Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsMetal
- 20th Century Fontana Arte Glass Coffee Table, Italian Side Table by Gae AulentiBy Fontana Arte, Gae AulentiLocated in West Palm Beach, FLA vintage Mid-Century Modern coffee table ( tavolo con route ) from Gae Aulenti, the original for Fontana Arte, with glass top and swivel wheels in good condition. The Italian industrial trolley was used to transport glass in the Fontana Arte plant. Wear consistent with age and use. Circa 1990, Milan, Italy. Gae Aulenti was born in 1927 in Palazzolo dello Stella, Italy and passed away in 2012 in Italy. She was a prolific architect and designers including Industrial Design, interior design, furniture, stage design, and lighting. Aulenti studied architecture Milan...Category
Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsGlass, Rubber
- Tour Table with Glass Top Designed by Gae Aulenti for Fontana ArteBy Gae Aulenti, Fontana ArteLocated in Brooklyn, NYTour is the evolution of the table with wheels. Again with wheels, but in this case taken from bicycles, it was a surprising piece. The beveled float glass top, 0.6" thick, rests on ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Side Tables
MaterialsGlass
- Italian Mid-Century Modern Coffee table by Gae Aulenti for Fontana Arte, 1980sBy Gae Aulenti, Fontana ArteLocated in MIlano, ITItalian Mid-Century Modern Coffee table by Gae Aulenti for Fontana Arte, 1980s Coffee table on wheels with rectangular top in aquamarine green glass, with rounded corners. The top is...Category
Vintage 1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Carts and Bar Carts
MaterialsMetal
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More

We Dare You Not to Smile at These Whimsical Italian Designs
Make anyplace your happy place with Italian furniture at its subversive best.

We Took Over a Historic Milan Palazzo and Filled It with Edgy Design
With "A New Breed," we showcased exceptional pieces by rising talents, a rapidly growing area of strength among 1stdibs' many offerings.
The 1stDibs Promise
Learn MoreExpertly Vetted Sellers
Confidence at Checkout
Price-Match Guarantee
Exceptional Support
Buyer Protection
Trusted Global Delivery