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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
Late 20th Century North American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Iron
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble, Stainless Steel
21st Century and Contemporary European Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Murano Glass
21st Century and Contemporary German Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary European Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Copper
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Resin
1970s Vintage Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Onyx
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Plexiglass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Lacquer
2010s British Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Aluminum
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Acrylic, Lucite, Plexiglass
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Steel
2010s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Metal, Bronze
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Ceramic, Oak
1960s American Vintage Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Walnut, Burl
20th Century French Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood, Oak, Walnut, Fir
Late 20th Century European Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble
20th Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Travertine
1960s French Vintage Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Ceramic, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass
1980s American Vintage Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Plaster
2010s Turkish Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Wood
2010s South African Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass
2010s British Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Aluminum
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Gold Leaf
21st Century and Contemporary French Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Stainless Steel
1960s Italian Vintage Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass, Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Onyx, Marble, Brass
2010s French Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Metal
2010s Mexican Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble
1950s American Vintage Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Walnut
2010s Spanish Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Stone, Crystal, Limestone, Travertine, Marble, Slate, Sandstone
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Chrome
2010s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Resin
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Blown Glass
1970s French Vintage Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Brass
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Plaster
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Oak, Lacquer
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Blown Glass
21st Century and Contemporary European Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Iron
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Travertine, Brass, Stainless Steel, Bronze
20th Century Spanish Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Onyx
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Oak
2010s Swedish Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Other
1940s Italian Vintage Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Steel
2010s Turkish Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Stone, Travertine
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Glass
2010s Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Marble
1970s French Vintage Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Scagliola, Wood
1980s Italian Vintage Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Metal
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Leather, Maple, Lacquer
2010s Turkish Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Stone, Travertine




