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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Acrylic, Glass
1990s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood
2010s English Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Steel
2010s North Korean Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Fabric, Silk, Textile
Late 20th Century Spanish Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass
2010s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Bronze
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Glass
2010s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Metal, Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble, Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Plastic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Plastic
1970s American Vintage Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary Brazilian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Teak, Cane, Glass
2010s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble, Gold Leaf, Silver Leaf
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Aluminum
Early 2000s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Mahogany
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Oak, Walnut
1980s American Vintage Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Lacquer
2010s Argentine Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Metal
20th Century English Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Shagreen
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Oak
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Metal
2010s Danish Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary French Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Bronze
1970s French Vintage Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass, Chrome
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Oak
Early 2000s Spanish Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass, Iron
2010s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Agate, Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Malachite, Brass
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Stainless Steel
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Acrylic, Lucite, Plexiglass
2010s Chinese Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Stainless Steel
2010s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Glass, Wood
1990s French Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Glass, Wood
2010s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble, Metal
2010s Chinese Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Bronze, Stainless Steel
2010s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble
2010s Spanish Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Metal
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Colombian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Stone, Quartz, Gold
21st Century and Contemporary Dutch Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Steel
2010s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Glass
2010s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass, Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Quartz, Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Ash
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Lucite
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Scagliola, Plywood
21st Century and Contemporary Colombian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Stone, Quartz, Gold
2010s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Other
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Metal
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Walnut
1960s Swedish Vintage Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Aluminum
2010s Spanish Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood, Lacquer
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Oak
2010s Portuguese Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble