Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw sweeping social change and major scientific advances — both of which contributed to a new aesthetic: modernism. Rejecting the rigidity of Victorian artistic conventions, modernists sought a new means of expression. References to the natural world and ornate classical embellishments gave way to the sleek simplicity of the Machine Age. Architect Philip Johnson characterized the hallmarks of modernism as “machine-like simplicity, smoothness or surface [and] avoidance of ornament.”
Early practitioners of modernist design include the De Stijl (“The Style”) group, founded in the Netherlands in 1917, and the Bauhaus School, founded two years later in Germany.
Followers of both groups produced sleek, spare designs — many of which became icons of daily life in the 20th century. The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics. While Bauhaus principals Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created furniture from mass-produced, chrome-plated steel, American visionaries like Charles and Ray Eames worked in materials as novel as molded plywood and fiberglass. Today, Breuer’s Wassily chair, Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair — crafted with his romantic partner, designer Lilly Reich — and the Eames lounge chair are emblems of progressive design and vintage originals are prized cornerstones of collections.
It’s difficult to overstate the influence that modernism continues to wield over designers and architects — and equally difficult to overstate how revolutionary it was when it first appeared a century ago. But because modernist furniture designs are so simple, they can blend in seamlessly with just about any type of décor. Don’t overlook them.
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood
2010s Dutch Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Aluminum
2010s Dutch Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Aluminum
2010s Dutch Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Plexiglass
2010s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Acrylic
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Ceramic
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary British Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Aluminum
2010s French Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary European Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood
2010s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Steel
2010s Dutch Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Steel
Early 2000s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood, Plywood
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Danish Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Steel
2010s Danish Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Cast Stone
2010s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Metal
2010s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Lacquer, Oak
2010s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Acrylic
2010s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Concrete
2010s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Concrete
2010s French Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble, Brass
2010s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Concrete, Metal
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Bronze, Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Carrara Marble, Marble, Granite, Onyx, Brass, Stainless Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Carrara Marble, Marble, Onyx, Brass, Stainless Steel
2010s Greek Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Cast Stone
2010s Mexican Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble, Metal
Mid-20th Century Moroccan Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Mother-of-Pearl, Wood
2010s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Blown Glass