Hugh Acton "Suspended Beam" Bench

Slat bench, designed and produced by Hugh Acton studio / Hugh Acton Inc. Kalamazoo, Michigan, c. 1954. Black lacquered slats joined together with brass rod supported by polished br...

Marble side table designed by Hugh Acton.

Hugh Acton unique side table, from the residence of Hugh Acton, Birmingham, Michigan. Similar to the iconic production benches, V legs in solid bras...

Hugh Acton chrome and granite side table circa early 1970s. This example has a finely grained grey granite top and sleek chrome base.

This 1930s Italian bench is so over-scaled, and monumental in appearance, that it seems to have been made for the large room it was destined, rather than the comfort of a typical sitter. As such, it would function equally well as a low side table or a high cocktail table. We’ll allow the buyer to determine its use. The designer was Pierluigi Colli, and the fabricator Martinotti, the Turin furniture and interior decorating firm that was established in 1831, and exhibited at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition and the 1904 St Louis World’s Fair. Colli’s family owned a textile company that supplied Martinotti with upholstery fabrics, suggesting nepotism had something to do with his being hired as the firm's director in 1926. Nevertheless, he proved himself worthy as a designer and a businessman. Having studied in Paris at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs, he befriended leading French designers, and arranged for Martinotti to retail Lalique glass and Jean Perzel lighting. In addition, the quality of their work, and Colli’s dedication to the modern design movement, prompted Carlo Mollino, Gio Ponti, and Gino Levi-Montalcini, among others, to have Martinotti fabricate some of their furniture. Colli’s claim to fame, however, is his own work as a designer, and his ability to master the vocabularies of every trend from Art Deco to midcentury modern. During the Great Depression, when nearly every nation floundered economically, fascist Italy...

1960s organic bench. Solid walnut bench with dovetails. Can also be used as a coffee table.