T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings Biomorphic Coffee Table
View Similar Items
T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings Biomorphic Coffee Table
About the Item
- Creator:T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 20 in (50.8 cm)Width: 70 in (177.8 cm)Depth: 35 in (88.9 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1954
- Condition:
- Seller Location:San Francisco, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU90863137682
T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings
British-born designer, interior decorator and author T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings (1905–76) was one of the great American tastemakers in the middle decades of the 20th century. Much like Edward Wormley, Robsjohn-Gibbings was a design classicist by education and inclination, but he would come to create some of the most gracious and livable modern furnishings of the era.
Robsjohn-Gibbings studied architecture at the University of London, then held various jobs that included designing décors for passenger liners and working as the art director of a film studio. In the early 1930s, while employed by the upper-crust interior designer Charles J. Duveen, Robsjohn-Gibbings experienced an epiphany during a visit to the British Museum. Examining the furniture depicted on ancient Greek ceramics — lithe stools and klismos chairs — he realized that he had found a design touchstone. By 1936, he had moved to New York and set up a showroom on Madison Avenue for his modern reinterpretations of classic Greek designs. Aided by contacts he’d developed while working with Duveen, he quickly established a clientele that included Elizabeth Arden, Doris Duke and Thelma Chrysler Foy.
Through his writings for magazines and books, Robsjohn-Gibbings earned a public following and was established as an urbane arbiter of taste. From 1943 to 1956, he produced an understated line of modernist furnishings for Widdicomb, which included one of the icons of the period: the tiered, biomorphic Mesa coffee table (1951). Robsjohn-Gibbings moved to Athens, Greece, in 1966, and created a new line of antiquity-inspired pieces for the firm Saridis. The series turned out to be his swan song.
Collectors’ interest in Robsjohn-Gibbings was reignited in the 1980s, when the 200-plus pieces from his 1936–38 commission for the Bel-Air estate of Los Angeles socialite Hilda Boldt Weber — pared-down neoclassical pieces rendered in blond wood (with the occasional flourish) — came on the market. (Up until then, the collection had remained in the house, despite its having changed hands several times.)
But his work for Widdicomb remains his most widely known, appreciated for its elegance and generous proportions. Robsjohn-Gibbings despised the stern aesthetic associated with his Bauhaus contemporaries, and a keynote of his modernist pieces is that they have no sharp angles. His chair and sofa frames, table legs and even many cabinets feature softly contoured edges. In whatever styled he designed, Robsjohn-Gibbings was guided by simplicity and timelessness. He wanted his furniture to be lived with happily.
- T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings Dining TableBy T.H. Robsjohn-GibbingsLocated in San Francisco, CAA dining table in Italian walnut with two end-mounting leaves sitting atop four slightly sabred legs in spun brass. Widdicomb decal label and stenciled numbers. Two leaves each 16"....Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsBrass
- Isamu Kenmochi Coffee TableBy Isamu Kenmochi, Tendo MokkoLocated in San Francisco, CAA rosewood coffee table by Isamu Kenmochi. This piece is longer and lower than standard models. Manufactured by Tendo Mokko. Literature: Japanese Modern, Mori, pg. 143.Category
Vintage 1960s Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsRosewood
Price Upon Request - Giuseppe Scapinelli "Maracana" Coffee TableBy Giuseppe ScapinelliLocated in San Francisco, CAA circular "maracana" coffee table by Giuseppe Scapinelli in Brazilian jacaranda wood with an inset glass top. Brazil, circa 1960s.Category
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsJacaranda
- Walnut & Chrome Coffee TableLocated in San Francisco, CAA solid walnut top on a chromed steel base. A modern construction in the style of Milo Baughman.Category
2010s American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsChrome
Price Upon Request - Gamble Stone Coffee Table by Kaspar HamacherBy Kaspar HamacherLocated in San Francisco, CAA gamble stone coffee table in dark oak by German artist Kaspar Hamacher. Each table has its own unique shape and are made from naturally fall...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Belgian Organic Modern Coffee and Cocktail...
MaterialsOak
$3,750 / item - Gamble Stone Coffee Table by Kaspar HamacherBy Kaspar HamacherLocated in San Francisco, CATwo gamble stone coffee tables by German artist Kaspar Hamacher. Each piece is made from a solid piece of oak from naturally fallen trees. Custom sizes available. Please inquire abo...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Belgian Organic Modern Coffee and Cocktail...
MaterialsOak
$3,750 / item
- T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings Biomorphic Coffee TableBy T.H. Robsjohn-GibbingsLocated in Boston, MAT.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings for Widdicomb biomorphic coffee table. Solid walnut sculptural base showing beautiful wood grain character and original thick .75" glass with green siding. Uni...Category
1990s Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsWalnut
- T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings Coffee TableBy T.H. Robsjohn-GibbingsLocated in Los Angeles, CAT.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings for Widdicomb Biomorphic Coffee Table, Model 1759Category
Vintage 1950s American Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsAluminum
Price Upon Request - T.H Robsjohn Gibbings Coffee TableBy T.H. Robsjohn-GibbingsLocated in Los Angeles, CAT.H. Robsjohn Gibbings Coffee walnut table for Widdicomb, 1960Category
Vintage 1960s American Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsWalnut
Price Upon Request - Coffee Table by T.H. Robsjohn-GibbingsBy T.H. Robsjohn-GibbingsLocated in Dallas, TXA coffee table designed b T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings for Widdicomb. Pair of matching end tables available separately.Category
Vintage 1950s Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsWalnut
- T.H Robsjohn-Gibbings WAP Coffee TableBy T.H. Robsjohn-GibbingsLocated in West Palm Beach, FLT.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings WAP Coffee Table Clean mahogany finish on the Base the top has been Replaced with identical Green Edge GlassCategory
Vintage 1950s North American Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsMahogany
- Curvaceous Coffee Table by T.H. Robsjohn GibbingsBy T.H. Robsjohn-GibbingsLocated in Atlanta, GACurvaceous coffee table, designed by T.H. Robsjohn Gibbings for Widdicomb, American, circa 1950s. This piece is currently being refinished and can be completed in your choice of colo...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsWood, Walnut