Mahogany Desks and Writing Tables

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...

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...

Elevate your work setting with the sheer sophistication of our 1950s French executive desk. A true masterpiece, handcrafted from the finest mahogany, this desk stands as a testament ...

This French Art Deco carved mahogany dining table or large writing desk from the early 20th century features a beautiful geometric marquetry wood tabletop with arrow pattern supporte...

Impressive Art Deco desk in noble rosewood and black piano lacquer - all parts including glass and locks are original and in very good condition. The entire desk has been restored an...

Cubist Art Deco desk with flame mahogany veneer. Six drawers and a door opening on the front, a niche on one side. Mahogany pull handles, polished brass hardware. French polish. Very...

Original, restored french Art Deco Desk with leather swivel armchair from circa 1930s. Gorgeous Rosewood veneered and excellently lacquered with high-gloss clear piano lacquer. Be...

A practical desk which leaves no aesthetic compromise with its lovely bookmatched mahogany veneer adorning both the inside and outside of the case. Internal drawers are adorned with ...

Three drawer desk or writing table crafted in mahogany with a white leather top over a sleek elegant form with art deco influence, finished all around with a convex mirror on the bac...

This stylish and chic French Art Deco mahogany desk dates to the 1930s and was created by Maison Soubrier, and the firm is still in business in its original location in Paris, France...

A Scandinavian Art Déco desk, Mahogany and Satinwood, bronze ornaments, freestanding Attributed to Sigvard Bernadotte, Stockholm 1930s.   

Found in England, this circa 1930s Art Deco desk has a streamlined machine age / industrial style. Desk top with three functional drawers and stainless steel leg and base. Unknown ma...

In the Ruhlman Manner, this French Art Deco desk, true to its French lineage, is a study in curves and angles. Two shapely filing drawers flank th...

Art Deco "Minister" desk, double sided in solid wood with mottled mahogany veneer, base with mahogany veneer, french polish. Seven drawers, nickel plated brass keys, handles and keyholes. Spain, Barcelona c. 1930 Matching bookcase...

This rare writing table in polished mahogany and silvered bronze is marked by E´mile-Jacques Ruhlmann's signature aesthetic motifs, manifest in its set of flared and tapered legs, an...

French-polished rectangular table in acajou crotch mahogany attributed to André Arbus, circa 1938. Four-way book matched veneer top. Double beveled edge on 2 inch thick top. Eight sq...

French Art Deco mahogany table with U base called "cradled " feet. Ideal as a dining table, it will be a perfect and amazing office desk.

Jules Leleu (1883-1961) double-fronted mahogany and brass desk, circa 1935. Having two set of four pedestal drawers and a single frieze drawer, accented in gilt bronze. Inset with p...

A fine French Art Deco mahogany dining table in the manner of Arbus. A matching console with a marble top is also available.

French Art Deco large mahogany kneehole desk with bronze column design trim and leather top. (JULES LELEU)

French Art Deco mahogany and parchment veneered "D" shaped dressing table desk with a glass top over sides of an open shelf and 4 drawers.

This large Art Deco table is attributed to the Austrian born New York designer Eugene Schoen. The mahogany carcass is veneered in Macassar, and surfaced with a sheet of black opaline...

Dining or writing table, with a mahogany parqueted top and 2 original end leaves (in stained raw wood).    

Art Deco console table by Pierre-Paul Montagnac (1883-1961) Signed on underside: Montagnac, 1926 Bibliography: Le Mobilier du XXe Siecle, Dictionnaire des créateurs by Pierre K...