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Paul Evans Patchwork Coffee Table With Slate Top, 1970's
$10,800
£8,240.13
€9,380.74
CA$15,179.52
A$16,685.99
CHF 8,760.07
MX$198,408.42
NOK 112,499.15
SEK 102,474.57
DKK 70,089.19
About the Item
Looking for a coffee table that’s more than just furniture-- well this is a functional work of art. This Paul Evans original is a stunning example of mid-century artistry with a flair for the unconventional. Handcrafted from a mesmerizing patchwork of patinated copper, enameled steel, and pewter sheeting, this table brings together materials and textures in ways that no two tables are alike. And then there’s the slate top—thick, heavy, and sitting flush in its groove like it was meant to be there from the beginning of time.
While there are other examples of this coffee table floating around the collector's universe, let me tell you: they’re not all created equal. Many show signs of over-polishing or even sanding, stripping away that rich, sought-after patina that true collectors drool over. But this example? It’s the gold standard. The patina has aged to perfection, offering a rich variety of tones, textures, and colors that dance across the surface. Every corner reveals a new surprise. Yes, the slate top has a few rough edges, but let’s be real—that only adds to its character. And the best part? The slate fits so perfectly into its base so snug you'd be hard pressed to squeeze a sheet of paper between them.
Now, let’s talk about the man behind the magic—Paul Evans. Born in 1931 and passing away in 1987, Evans was a driving force in the American Craft Movement. He pushed the boundaries of furniture design, turning traditional techniques on their head and creating pieces that were part sculpture, part functional art. His use of metal, especially in his iconic Cityscape and Sculpted Bronze series, made him a trailblazer of mid-century modernism and brutalist design.
Evans started his career working with metal in a tiny shop in New Hope, Pennsylvania with his pal Phillip Lloyd Powell—just down the road from fellow American Craft legends like George Nakashima. But Evans didn’t stop with wood and craft traditions. Instead, he worked with metal in ways no one else was doing, blending industrial and handmade aesthetics. Every piece was unique, handmade, and bursting with Evans' signature rough-hewn, heavily textured style.
His work, especially these patchwork metal tables, is highly collectible today because of his meticulous craftsmanship and the vision of a mad scientist. Collectors around the world covet his pieces for their rarity, their raw, sculptural beauty, and their place in the pantheon of American modernist design. Evans wasn’t just a furniture maker; he was an artist who saw his materials as an extension of himself—each piece an exploration of texture, form, and individuality.
And, while Evans may no longer be with us, his legacy lives on through his unforgettable works of art—like this coffee table, which is as much a conversation piece as it is a functional one. With its perfect balance of patina, texture, and craftsmanship, this table is truly a one-of-a-kind piece of mid-century history.
So, if you’re looking for a coffee table that’s part sculpture, part story, and entirely unique—congratulations, you’ve just found it.
- Creator:Paul Evans (Designer)
- Design:
- Dimensions:Height: 16.25 in (41.28 cm)Width: 68 in (172.72 cm)Depth: 32 in (81.28 cm)
- Style:Brutalist (In the Style Of)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:C. 1970
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. There is some chipping along the sides of the slate top insert. This is not noticeable under casual observation and we would consider this wear consistent with age and use. Top still fits snug into recess.
- Seller Location:Culver City, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1139241741072
Paul Evans
A designer and sculptor, Paul Evans was a wild card of late 20th century modernism. A leading light of the American Studio Furniture movement, Evans’s sideboards, credenzas, coffee tables and other work manifests a singular aesthetic sense, as well as a seemingly contradictory appreciation for both folk art forms and for new materials and technologies.
Evans’s primary material was metal, not wood, which was favored by his fellow studio designers, and Bucks County, Pennsylvania, neighbors George Nakashima and Phillip Lloyd Powell. He trained in metallurgy and studied at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, the famed crucible of modern design and art in suburban Detroit. For a time early in his career, Evans also worked at Sturbridge Village, a historical “living museum” in Massachusetts, where he gave demonstrations as a costumed silversmith.
Evans’s earliest work unites these influences. The pieces that made his reputation are known as “sculpted-front” cabinets: wood cases faced with box-like high-relief patinated steel mounts laid out in a grid pattern. Each mount contains a metal emblem, or glyph, and the effect is that of a brawny quilt.
Evans’s later work falls into three distinct style groups. His sculpted-bronze pieces, begun in the mid-1960s, show Evans at his most expressive. He employed a technique in which resin is hand-shaped, and later sprayed with a metal coating, allowing for artistic nuance in the making of chairs, tables and case pieces. Later in the decade and into the 1970s, Evans produced his Argente series for celebrated manufacturer Directional (a brand known to vintage mid-century modern furniture collectors everywhere): consoles and other furniture forms that feature aluminum and pigment-infused metal surfaces welded into abstract organic forms and patterns.
Last, Evans's Cityscape design series — a milestone in the history of brutalist design — meshed perfectly with the sleek, “high tech” sensibility of the later ’70s. Evans constructed boxy forms and faced them with irregular mosaic patterns that mixed rectangular plaques of chromed steel, bronze or burlwood veneer. These, like all of Paul Evans’s designs, are both useful and eye-catching. But their appeal has another, more visceral quality: these pieces have clearly been touched by an artist’s hand.
Find a collection of authentic Paul Evans furniture today on 1stDibs.
About the Seller
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