Desks and Writing Tables

The melting vanity table's simple but elegant design, makes for an adaptable elegant piece of furniture. The cream shagreen inlaid surface is fram...

Writing table, walnut, The Netherlands, 1940s An elegant furniture piece that attests to masterful craftsmanship. Its marquetry top, adorned with a captivating array of various wood...

Castelo Console Table, Contemporary Collection, Handcrafted in Portugal - Europe by Greenapple. Designed by Rute Martins for the Contemporary Collecti...

Vintage Dakota Jackson post modern Art Deco style executive partners desk featuring mahogany with leather insert and stainless steel frame. A V-Shape pattern veneer top with Black Leather inset. 2 pedestal cabinets below: each with 2 standard drawers and 1 file drawer, front and back. Polished Stainless Steel drawer pulls, post, floor plates, and arced trestle supporting desktop. DJ Chelsea Black Leather, Polished Polyresin finish. Dakota Jackson (born August 24, 1949) is an American furniture designer known for his eponymous furniture brand, Dakota Jackson, Inc.,[1] his early avant-garde works involving moving parts or hidden compartments,[2][3] and his collaborations with the Steinway & Sons piano company.[1] Jackson helped establish the art furniture movement in 1970s SoHo,[4][5] later becoming a celebrity designer in the 1980s.[6][7][8] His background in the world of stage magic helped him get his first commissions and is often cited as the source of his point-of-view.[6][9] Early life Dakota Jackson was born on August 24, 1949, and grew up in the Rego Park neighborhood of Queens, New York. Stage Magic Jackson's father, Jack Malon, was a professional magician.[10] Mr. Malon learned the trade from his own father, who studied stage magic in early 20th century Poland.[1] Jackson began studying magic at a young age and sometimes performed with his father.[11] Jackson's name, in fact, grew out of a road trip to Fargo, North Dakota.[11] Throughout his adolescence and into his early 20s, Jackson immersed himself in the world of magic.[2] In 1963, Jackson began to perform in talent shows at his junior high school, William Cowper JHS 73 (which is known today as The Frank Sansivieri Intermediate School),[12] and at children's birthday parties.[13] Jackson also began to build his own props, including large boxes for sawing a woman in half and small boxes from which doves would emerge in full flight.[11] Jackson acknowledges the importance of these early experiences with magic to his later career as a furniture designer: "The demands of performance taught me how to discipline myself to achieve aesthetic ends."[1][2][14] After Jackson graduated from Forest Hills High School in 1967, he continued performing as a magician, working in art galleries, night clubs, touring in the Catskills, and giving private performances at society events.[2][13][15] When he was 17, Jackson had studied with magician Jack London to learn the dangerous bullet catch trick.[16] "What appealed to me was the notion of doing things that appeared miraculous" Jackson once recalled.[6] "I was interested in spiritualism. I was interested in things like bullet catching, things that really challenged individual sensibilities, that were frightening, on the edge."[2] He didn't find the opportunity to perform the trick publicly until a decade later at Jackson's final professional performance as a magician.[1] It was documented in Andy Warhol's Interview (magazine), in a story titled "Dakota Jackson bites the bullet."[1][16] Jackson admits that he sometimes tires of references to his magician background, although he acknowledges it as an important part of his history.[2] The Downtown Arts Scene In the late 1960s, Jackson moved into a loft on 28th Street in Chelsea.[1][17] Jackson became part of the Downtown scene, a community of "artists, dancers, performers, and musicians" who moved to the neighborhood for the cheap rent and social life.[1][8][17][18] In October 1970, Jackson performed with the Japanese group Tokyo Kid Brothers at New York's La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (also known as Café La MaMa) in a rock musical production called "Coney Island Play" ("Konī airando purē).[19] The show explored themes of cross-cultural communication and understanding[19] and was a follow up to the group's debut performance of "The Golden Bat" at La MaMa earlier that summer.[20][21][22] Jackson played the part of a "clever conjurer."[19] Over the next few years, Jackson became interested in minimalist dance and performed in the dance companies of Laura Dean and Trisha Brown.[2][15][23] Jackson credits his exposure to minimalism and minimalist dance in particular as having had a strong influence on his approach to design; in 1989, Jackson told the Los Angeles Times: For me the essential fineness of a design is in the idea, not the object itself ... In minimalism, the object is pared down to its basic meaning by stripping away all the excrescence ... —those elements that do not contribute to the pure idea.[24] Design career In the early 1970s, as he experimented with performance and dance, Jackson began branching out as a special effects consultant to other magicians, film producers, and musicians[2][23] such as Donna Summer.[6][9] The loft also gave Jackson an opportunity to apply his creativity and building skills: "These were times when lofts were not ... luxury condominiums. These were tough, tough raw spaces ... and we artists, bohemians, creative people, we created our environment. So I had to build".[17][25] Recognizing his skills as a builder, Jackson decided to shift away from performance and become a full-time maker.[1][15][17] He began making a variety of objects, including furnishings for other artists and magic boxes with hidden compartments for art collectors and galleries.[17][24] Jackson's social connections helped spread word about his work[15] and this led to his first commissions.[1] Early Commissions Desk for John Lennon by Dakota Jackson In 1974, Jackson's career as a designer began when Yoko Ono asked him to build a desk with hidden compartments for husband John Lennon.[26] "She wanted to make a piece of furniture that would be a mystical object; that would be like a Chinese puzzle," Jackson recalled in a 1986 interview published in the Chicago Tribune.[6] The result was a small cubed-shaped writing table with rounded corners reminiscent of Art Deco era style.[15] Touching secret pressure points opened the desk's compartments.[23] This commission helped build Jackson's reputation and allowed him to merge his experience as a magician and performer with his developing interest in furniture.[27] In 1978, a bed designed for fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg garnered Jackson even more notoriety.[8][10][28] [29] Called "The Eclipse", the bed was described in The New Yorker as "large, astounding, sumptuous, with sunbursts of cherry wood and quilted ivory satin at head and foot."[10] A lighting system positioned behind the headboard switched on automatically at sunset and spread out rays of light "like an aurora borealis,"[2][17] which grew brighter and brighter until turning off at 2 am.[23][30] Commissions like these continued to come in[8] and Jackson soon became known as a designer to the rich and famous.[30] Some of his other clients from this period included songwriter Peter Allen, Saturday Night Live creator and producer Lorne Michaels, Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, and soap opera actress Christine Jones.[8] The American Art Furniture Movement and the Industrial Style In the late 1970s, Jackson was among a small group of artists and artisans producing and exhibiting hand-made furniture in New York.[5][31] Jackson and his peers were part of the "American Art Furniture Movement," a group sometimes called the "Art et Industrie Movement,"[32] named after the leading art furniture gallery of the era,[32] Art et Industrie, founded by Rick Kaufmann in 1976.[33] In a 1984 Town & Country article titled "Art You Can Sit On," Kaufmann said he created the gallery to "serve as a locus to the public for artists and designers creating new decorative arts."[31] The works on display were "radical objects" that drew from a number of fine art traditions, including "Pop, Surrealism, Pointillism and Dada [which were] "thrown together with the severe lines of the Bauhaus and the Russian avant-garde, mixed with Mondrian's color and filtered through a video sensibility—all to create a new statement."[31] The article described Jackson as a "ten-year veteran of the genre" and pointed to the "clean forms and quiet colors" of his furniture.[4] Jackson showed a variety of industrial-looking lacquer, metal, and glass works at Art et Industrie, including his Standing Bar (also known as the Modern Bar),[33] a lacquered cabinet that Jackson designed in 1978 for his wife (then-girlfriend) RoseLee Goldberg.[13] Other works from this period include the T-Bird Desk, Self-Winding Cocktail Table, and the Saturn Stool...

Art Deco Revival Macassar and Chromed Metal Desk, with three drawers

This secretaire desk was designed by Jacques Adnet, and was made in Tamo Ash Wood. The style of this secretaire features sleek lines, geometric shapes and a ...

A grand mid-1930s desk as marvelous for its utility as its striking beauty. Not only do the elegant U-shape and large, receding supports complement the desk's rich mahogany finish, t...

Cabinet Art Deco, French, circa 1930. Credenza buffet walnut and marble with chrome brass chopsticks. Two doors and six drawers. The buffet has been made in three parts. The top o...

This writing desk features a leather top with glass protector on an aluminum base. Single drawer with decorative acrylic handle. Can also be used as a console table. Please confirm l...

Art Deco desk with slightly curved table top and two drawer elements with four drawers each. These are lockable and the handles are made of elegant bars. The desk can be positioned a...

Monumental Art Deco era desk by French Modernist designer Jacques Adnet. Black iron 'A' frame with 4 angled iron legs. Solid oak table top wrapped in black leather with brass studs p...

Large Art Deco Desk with a dark brown leather top and a small compartment with a hinged lid that is perfectly flush with the tabletop. The tabletop features elegantly rounded corners...

Scandinavian mid century birch pedestal desk circa 1940. Excellent example of mid 20th century Swedish design and craftsmanship. 3 part pedestal desk taking inspiration from the em...

Dimensions of the table: Height: 76 cm (29.9 in) Width: 150 cm (59.1 in) Depth: 71 cm (27.6 in) Leg space: Height: 73 cm (28.7 in) Width: 58 cm (22.8 in) Designed by Jindrich Halab...

W51 D19 H29.5 KW21.5 KC23.5 KD18 Vintage Fully Restored Desk with a Medium Walnut Finish. Item is structurally sound and fully functional. Desk features very unique hardware and bur...

This ART DECO writing desk was made in the former Czechoslovakia in the 1930´s. The table has a simple and unconventional design typical of the ART DECO period. The table is double-s...

Impressive extra large vintage burgundy red lacquered wood and brass presidential desk by Jean Claude Mahey, France ca. 1970s Rare in these dimensions. Signed with brass label on the...

Charles Dudouyt oak desk with double base, made in the 1940s in France. The sturdy oak construction, adorned with front panels and a raised round inlaid top with a captivating parque...

Provenance: Palais des Consuls de Rouen. Bibliography: For an illustration of these pieces, see: Rouen, le Palais des Consuls. Presentation booklet. 26. For an illustration of these...

Everyone here on team FMV adores this desk. We don't know much (if anything) about the origin, maker or designer, but it's awesome nonetheless. Similar to the Henredon "Scene Two" ...

Magnificent and ultra rare Art Deco Amsterdamse School desk. Design by Daniel van Dorp for Gebroeders Reens Amsterdam. Striking Dutch design from the 1920s. Solid macassar ebony with...

This desk is made of black and white polished shell marquetry with brass trims. It has 2 drawers with brass and shagreen handles. The legs are in black polished shell marquetry. It c...

ART DECO DESK A stunning French Art Deco desk produced in Paris in 1930 by Sanyas et Popot ,this example has been crafted from oak and rosewood designed with a curved top section. It...

Gio Ponti, writing desk, walnut, mahogany, glass, Italy, 1940s This writing table, a rare find designed by Gio Ponti, originates from the 1940s. The design is truly magnificent, fea...

Stop asking "who's the boss?" and place yourself at the helm of this stunning Art Deco executive desk. Featuring an eye-catching rounded writing surface atop a unique, yet sturdy, T-...

An absolutely magnificent Art Deco burr walnut leather top partners desk. This was made in England, it dates from the 1920-30’s. The quality is outstanding, this has an extremely im...

Cabinet Art Deco, French, circa 1930. Credenza buffet burr walnut. Two doors and one shelf. The varnish was redone. Good condition. Shipping: L 160, P 52, H 91 46 Kg.

An Italian 1930's writing table made for Banca Del Popolo, Trapani. The rectangular surface is supported by trapezoidal shaped sides with a hammered copper plating underneath the t...

Super chic designer desk by Sally Sirkin for J. Robert Scott, know as the Paris desk. There are ribbed and tapered legs and a black and ivory enamel finish. The corner, knobs and k...

Sophisticated French Deco style rosewood veneer writing desk having gorgeous silhouette and unusual white lacquer trim on the legs and feet as well as single drawer. Finished front ...

A French Art Deco style shagreen embossed leather desk in a rich cobalt marlin blue. With gilded highlight trim, three frieze drawers with modern round pulls, and raised on square ta...

Art Deco dressing table with chair. Elegant dressing table with a chair in the Art Deco style. The furniture has been professionally renovated and is in very good condition. The dres...

Indulge in the allure of the 1920s with this Green German Art Deco Chinoiserie Desk, a fusion of elegance and exotic charm. Crafted around 1920, this piece seamlessly marries the bo...

A charming pine desk, crafted by a Swedish cabinetmaker in the 1940s. The natural grain of the pine adds warmth and character to the desk, highlighting its authentic, time-worn appea...

A French Art Deco style shagreen embossed leather desk in a bright green. With gilded highlight trim, three frieze drawers with modern round pulls, and raised on square tapered legs....

A French Art Deco style shagreen embossed leather desk in a rich pewter grey. With gilded highlight trim, three frieze drawers with modern round pulls, and raised on square tapered l...

French Desk Style: Art Deco Year 1940 Wood and bronze Finish: polyurethanic lacquer. It is an elegant and sophisticated dream desk. The quality of the furniture and the exotic wood...

Introducing a timeless desk / dining table, a Mid Century Modern masterpiece handcrafted by a skilled Danish cabinetmaker in the 1950s. Attributed to Martin Nyrop for Rud Rasmussen, ...

Desk from the Belgian Furniture Manufactory DeCoene Frères. Double Face desk for the boss on one side and the secretary on the other Well known Art Déco Furniture, Belgium 1940s F...

The desk "Fryklund" by Carl Malmsten in pine is a classic and timeless high-quality piece of furniture, designed to suit both modern and traditional home interiors. Made from solid p...

Magnificent and ultra rare Art Deco Modernist desk or writing table. Design by Hendrik Wouda for H. Pander & Zonen Den Haag. Striking Dutch design from the 1920s. Solid oak base with...

Here is a desk of timeless elegance, an exquisite creation of the Rationalist period in Italy. Crafted with meticulous precision, this Italian desk perfectly combines the warmth of w...

The Sonia writing desk is the perfect piece for your room. A more subtle version to her sister the iconic writing desk, the Sonia has elegant legs i...

Art Deco table by J. Halabala from 1960s. Art Deco table by the famous Czech designer J. Halabala, 1940. Jindrich Halabala, (a Czech designer ranked among the most outstanding creat...

An Art Deco light oak nine drawer, bar handled, inverted breakfront twin pedestal desk. Just fitted with a new leather top. The central drawer with a working lock and key. A quality,...

The desk / vanity is mirrored clad, has five pull-out drawers with an Art Deco style.

Art Deco table by J. Halabala from 1960s. The piece of furniture was made of walnut tree. Art Deco table by the famous Czech designer J. Halabala, 1950. Jindrich Halabala - (a Czech ...

Art Deco table by J. Halabala from 1960s. The piece of furniture was made of walnut tree. Art Deco table by the famous Czech designer J. Halabala, 1950. Jindrich Halabala - (a Czech ...

Art Deco table by J. Halabala from 1960s. The piece of furniture was made of walnut tree. Art Deco table by the famous Czech designer J. Halabala, 1950. Jindrich Halabala - (a Czech ...

Very nice large writing table .Oak wood .Amsterdam school style Dutch Art Deco 1920/30 Pander . also suitable for a dining table

Bert England for John Widdicomb faux-Tourtise shell finish body with a black vinyl work surface and drawer fronts. Asian inspired brass handles. Desk is finished on all sides! Fin...

Art Deco table by J. Halabala from 1960s. The piece of furniture was made of walnut tree. Art Deco table by the famous Czech designer J. Halabala, 1950. Jindrich Halabala - (a Czech ...

Elegant German Art Deco Desk is made out of walnut wood. Has slightly curved top with leather insert in the middle. There is thin keyed drawer. Desk is supported by 2 wide rectangula...

Art Deco French desk in Macassar wood Desk is made out of Macassar wood and newly re-upholstered with a strip of brown leather in the middle of the desk’s top. Each of the legs have ...

Beautiful Italian Art Deco Mid-Century Modern desk writing table, in veneer burl wood and precious black opaline glass top, with elegant carved frame and curved sides highlighted by ...

A fine Art Deco desk by Maurice Adams, in highly polished walnut. Bow fronted, with four drawers to each side, a central door and a good size cupboard beneath. Quality, silvered hand...

Art Deco Desk - By Louis Majorelle Exceptional quality Art Deco desk produced in France c1925, in Macassar Ebony and stamped with his unique inlay signature Majorelle Nancy to the i...

Imposing French art deco desk from the 1930s. Solid wood structure with two lockers on the top closing with a rosewood curtain. Two drawers on each side and a large central drawer, a...