Tavolo Con Ruote Coffee Table, Designed by Gae Aulenti for Fontana Arte
View Similar Items
Tavolo Con Ruote Coffee Table, Designed by Gae Aulenti for Fontana Arte
About the Item
- Creator:Gae Aulenti (Designer),Fontana Arte (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 9.5 in (24.13 cm)Width: 55 in (139.7 cm)Depth: 27.5 in (69.85 cm)
- Style:Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:1980-1989
- Date of Manufacture:circa 1980
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. .
- Seller Location:San Francisco, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: f95501603314384223fs
Gae Aulenti
The Italian architect and designer Gae Aulenti will forever be best remembered for her work with museums, in particular her 1980–86 renovation of a Beaux Arts Paris train station to create the galleries of the Musée d’Orsay. Aulenti — whose first name, short for Gaetana, is pronounced “guy” — should also be recalled for her tough intellectual spirit and for working steadily when few women found successful architectural careers in postwar Italy.
After she graduated from the Milan Polytechic in 1954, Aulenti opened an architectural office. She also joined the staff of the progressive architectural magazine Casabella, whose editorial line was that the establishment, orthodox modernism of Le Corbusier and the Bauhaus, had outlived it usefulness. When their movement for fresh approaches to architecture and design received a sympathetic hearing, Aulenti found patrons — most prominently Gianni Agnelli, of Fiat, who later employed her to renovate the Palazzo Grassi in Venice for use as an arts exhibition space.
Commissions for showrooms and other corporate spaces brought Aulenti to furniture design. She felt that furniture should never dominate a room. Her chairs and sofas — low-slung, with rounded enameled metal frames and ample seats — and tables, particularly her 1972 marble Jumbo coffee table for Knoll, project solidity and sturdiness. In lighting design, however, Aulenti is bravura. Each work has a marvelous sculptural presence. Pieces such as her Pipistrello table lamp and Quadrifoglio pendant are a perfect marriage of organically shaped glass and high-tech fixtures. Others have a futuristic elegance — and some even have a touch of personality. Aulenti’s Pileino and La Ruspa table lamps each look almost like little robots. Her lighting pieces are an artful grace note in the career of a woman who believed in strength.
Fontana Arte
Best known for its elegant and innovative vintage lighting fixtures, the Milan-based firm Fontana Arte pioneered one of the key features of 20th-century and contemporary Italian design: the union of artistry and industry wrought by partnerships between creative talents — chiefly architects — and entrepreneurial businesses. Fontana Arte is further distinguished by having had as artistic director, in succession, four of Italy’s most inventive modernist designers: Gio Ponti, Pietro Chiesa, French transplant Max Ingrand and Gae Aulenti.
The bread and butter of the glassmaking company that Luigi Fontana founded in 1881 was plate-glass panels for the construction industry. In 1930, Fontana met Ponti — then the artistic director of the Richard Ginori ceramics workshop and the editor of the influential magazine Domus — at a biannual design exhibition that became the precursor to today’s Milan Design Triennale, and the two hatched an idea for a furniture and housewares firm. Fontana Arte was incorporated in 1932 with Ponti as its chief of design. He contributed several lamps that remain among the company’s signature works, including the orb-atop-cone Bilia table lamp and the 0024 pendant — a stratified hanging sphere.
The following year, Fontana Arte partnered with the influential Milan studio glassmaker and retailer Pietro Chiesa, who took over as artistic director. Chiesa’s designs for lighting — as well as for tables and items including vases and ashtrays — express an appreciation for fluidity and simplicity of line, as seen in works such as his flute-shaped Luminator floor lamp and the 1932 Fontana table — an arched sheet of glass that is held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
Six years after Chiesa’s 1948 death, the École des Beaux Arts–trained Max Ingrand took over as head of design at Fontana Arte. Ingrand brought a similarly expressive formal sensibility to wares such as lamps and mirrors, but he also had a masterful eye for the manipulation of glass surfaces — whether they be cut, frosted, acid-etched or sand-blasted. His classic design is the Fontana table lamp of 1954, which has a truncated cone shade and curved body, both of which are made of pure, chic white-frosted glass.
Following Ingrand, the often-audacious Italian architect Gae Aulenti served as the company’s artistic director from 1979 to 1996, and while she generally insisted that furnishings take second place aesthetically to architecture, she made an exception for Fontana Arte pieces such as the Tavolo con Ruote series of glass coffee and dining tables on wheels, bold lighting pieces such as the Parola series and the Giova, a combination flower vase and table lamp. As a key incubator of modern design under Aulenti’s tenure, Fontana Arte remained true to its long-held commitment — creating objects that have never been less than daring.
Find vintage Fontana Arte lighting fixtures such as pendants, table lamps and more on 1stDibs.
- Paul Frankl Designed Stepped Coffee Table for Brown SaltmanBy Paul Frankl, Brown SaltmanLocated in San Francisco, CAOffered here is a Paul Frankl designed coffee table for Brown Saltman. Ebonized cerused oak, with glass, table top, and has a step down design, with a shelf below.Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsGlass, Oak
- 3-Piece Percival Lafer Designed Coffee and End Tables in Jacaranda RosewoodBy Percival LaferLocated in San Francisco, CAOffered is a three piece set of a Percival Lafer designed coffee and end tables in Jacaranda Rosewood, all have their original smoke glass tops. ...Category
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsGlass, Rosewood
- Milo Baughman for Murray Birch and Brass Drop-Leaf Coffee Table, 1953By Murray Furniture, Milo BaughmanLocated in San Francisco, CAA rare 1953 birch and brass drop-leaf coffee table by Milo Baughman for Murray Furniture. Solid birch construction with dynamic figuring throughout, especially notable on a top se...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBrass
- Monumental 1970s Natural Freeform Wood Round Glass Top Coffee TableLocated in San Francisco, CAOffered here is a monumental in size, circa 1970s natural freeform wooden base with a round glass top coffee table. We believe the base i...Category
Vintage 1970s American Organic Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsGlass, Wood
- California Lamps & Shades Co. Silvered Egyptian Figures Glass Coffee Table, 1951By California Lamps and Shade Co.Located in San Francisco, CAA very uncommon and uniquely stylish 1951 Egyptian Revival-inspired Hollywood Regency figural glass top coffee table by California Lamps...Category
Vintage 1950s American Hollywood Regency Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBrass
- Meiji Period Red Lacquer Octagon Low Table or Plant Stand, 3 AvailableLocated in San Francisco, CAOffered individually are three red lacquer octagon low tables that could also be used as plant stands. We believe they're from the Meiji period. With carved manji symbols around thei...Category
Antique Early 1900s Japanese Meiji End Tables
MaterialsWood
- Gae Aulenti Tavolo Con Ruote Low Glass Coffee Table on Casters for Fontana ArteBy Fontana Arte, Gae AulentiLocated in Miami, FLDesigned by Gae Aulenti, this low coffee table consists of a tempered glass top supported by four black industrial wheels and was produced by Fontana Arte and imported by Luminaire. ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsGlass
- Tavolo Con Ruote Low Table with Glass Top by Gae Aulenti for Fontana ArteBy Gae Aulenti, Fontana ArteLocated in Brooklyn, NYAn Industrial trolley used at the Fontana Arte plant to transport glass: This was the object that inspired Gae Aulenti to design her Tavolo con Ruote. Thi...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Sofa Tables
MaterialsGlass
- Tour 3005 - High Table W/4 Wheels by Gae Aulenti, Fontana ArteBy Gae Aulenti, Fontana ArteLocated in Beverly Hills, CATour is the evolution of the Table with Wheels. Again with wheels, but in this case taken from bicycles, it was a surprising piece.Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsGlass
- 20th Century Italian Vintage Glass Coffee Table by Gae Aulenti & Fontana ArteBy Fontana Arte, Gae AulentiLocated in West Palm Beach, FLA vintage Mid-Century Modern coffee table ( tavolo con route ) from Gae Aulenti, the original for Fontana Arte, with glass top and swivel wheels in good condition. The Italian indust...Category
Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsGlass, Rubber
- Pair of glass and metal low tables by Gae Aulenti for Fontana Arte, 1970sBy Gae Aulenti, Fontana ArteLocated in Milano, ITPair of low tables by Gae Aulenti for Fontana Arte, 1970s Iconic pair of low tables with wheels, glass top and painted metal forks. Gae Aulenti for Fontana Arte. Good condition, si...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsMetal
- Gae Aulenti for Fontana Arte Glass Coffee Table with WheelsLocated in Encino, CAGae Aulenti for Fontana Arte glass coffee table with black lacquered rubber wheels. Thick crystal top mounted on four black lacquered ...Category
1990s Italian Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsCut Glass
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
We Dare You Not to Smile at These Whimsical Italian Designs
Make anyplace your happy place with Italian furniture at its subversive best.
We Took Over a Historic Milan Palazzo and Filled It with Edgy Design
With "A New Breed," we showcased exceptional pieces by rising talents, a rapidly growing area of strength among 1stdibs' many offerings.