Metal 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...

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...

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" ...

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...

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...

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-...

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.

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

Charming P.E.L. Tubular Steel Writing Desk and Chair from the United Kingdom, the 1930s. This set is probably designed by Serge Chermayeff (1900–1996)...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 and very elegant Art Deco French writing desk. It is made out of Macassar wood and legs are out ebonyzecd wood. Tips of legs are wrapped with brass holders. Desk has 2 spac...

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...

Two Modernist art deco writing tables circa 1930

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 is made out of high quality walnut wood. It composed out of 2 parts/sides with lots of room/drawers for storage. Both sides are connected on the bottom with each other...

Beautiful and elegant Art Deco Period French writing desk. Macassar veneer - table desk with shaped top; three drawers underneath. Keyed middle drawer. Resting on tapered and channel...

A fine French blackened wood desk with 3 drawers, an off white & black lacquered top with metal Inlays, and bronze handles and wheels.

Only the wood is restored, not the chrome metal It is an elegant and sophisticated dream desk. The quality of the furniture and the exotic wood used make it unique. It is an icon of...

French Desk style: Art Deco Year: 1940 Material: Wood and bronze It is an elegant and sophisticated dream desk. The quality of the furniture and the exotic wood used make it unique....

French Desk Sign: Made in France 7382 Year: 1920 It is an elegant and sophisticated dream desk. The quality of the furniture and the exotic wood used make it unique. It is an icon ...

This dressing table has 4 drawers and it is made of white rock crystal marquetry with brass trims. The 4 feet are in brass. 2 drawers on the right side, 1 drawer in the center and 1...

A modernist Art Deco desk in limed oak with partially clad oxblood leather top. With clean lines and simple brass drawer pulls, very much in the manner of Jacques Adnet or Eugene Pri...

Stunning Italian Art Deco Mid-Century Modern desk writing table, in beautiful veneer burr walnut wood with beautiful and elegant curved shape, completed by the side and central drawe...

Robert Bloch for Studio Athelia - A fine French Art Deco rosewood secretary desk with a flip top, four drawers, refined chrome hardware (the top can be ...

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...

Modernist desk in black lacquer Writing desk Piano lacquer, high gloss black Metal fittings in Art Déco style, France around 1950 Dimensions: Width: 180 cm Height: 78 cm Depth: 90 cm

Desk Piano lacquer, black high gloss Metal applications, freshly nickel-plated Non-functional drawers on the back Original Art Deco, France 1930s Dimensions: Width: 130 cm Height: ...

A highly unique French Art Deco writing table /desk with stunning geometric form. The rectangular surface is supported by triangular shaped wood bases and connected to the top by tr...

Very elegant Italian Art Deco Mid-Century Modern folding slant front desk writing table secretaire, in beautiful wood with three drawers. This beautiful piece is completed by the whi...

Very elegant Italian Mid-Century Modern small desk or writing table with stylish legs and veneer wood with two drawers. This beautiful piece is completed by the glass top and the bra...

The Galaxy writing desk in cream shagreen, is a classic and sculptural piece with its beautifully shaped bronze-patina brass legs. This piece has t...

Magnificent and ultra rare Art Deco Modernist writing table. Design by Hendrik Wouda for H. Pander & Zonen Den Haag. Striking Dutch design from 1924.Solid oak and original oak veneer...

"Free shipping in florida" It was exhibited at Palm beach "American International Fine Art Fair (AIFAF)" Desk Year 1940 French Wood and chrome Finish: polyurethanic lacquer It is an ...

An exceptional quality French Art Deco desk, produced around 1925 using solid Pomelle Sapele the desk has five drawers with bronze handles and crisply carved detail, the desk is free...

Magnificent and ultra rare Art Deco Modernist partner desk. Design by Hendrik Wouda for H. Pander & Zonen Den Haag. Striking Dutch design from ...

An extremely rare desk by designer Michele Pigneres made in the 1970s. This desk is having all the characteristics from his designs such as the drawer pullers, the chrome framing and...

A rare Art Deco period eight-piece study suite set in the manner of famous Austrian architect, designer, and Vienna Secession founder Josef Hoffman (Austria, 1870-1956), circa 1920. Exquisitely handcrafted in Austria in the early 20th century, most likely Vienna, featuring fine quality craftsmanship and solid wood construction, featuring Biedermeier inspired Viennese Art Deco styling of simplicity, strict, geometric lines with minimal surface embellishment, instead of ornamentation putting the focus on high-quality materials. The matching eight-piece set comprising a tanker writing desk with inset leather surface, surmounted with raised gallery fitted with drawers flanking richly figured quilted diamond inlay, rising on double pedestals with locking cupboard doors opening to stacked shelved tray interior, affixed with patinated brass pulls and escutcheons, retaining original keys, finished on all sides so it can be placed anywhere in the room, and paired with a comfortable armchair with upholstered seat and backrest. A large eight door bookcase storage cabinet with original glass panels, adjustable shelves, and cocktail drinks bar slide. A centre card table with rectangular shaped canted corner top featuring inset green baize felt games playing surface, over conforming apron fitted with dovetailed drawers, rising on square column pedestal, surrounded by four upholstered side chairs. Dimensions: (approx) 79" High, 65" Wide, 21" Deep (largest, cabinet) PROVENANCE / ACQUISITION: Property from the important Estate of Myra Janco Daniels (1925-2022) Naples, Florida. A legendary business woman, philanthropist, and arts advocate who built the institution known today as Artis—Naples and made Naples a cultural destination. Additional info below. Acquired from highly reputable auction house, Heritage Auctions, Dallas, Texas. Design Signature Auction catalog #8110 Condition Report: Great original antique condition with beautifully aged warm mellow patina. Strong, sturdy and structurally sound. Overall very attractive condition; no significant losses or restorations; wear consistent with over 100 years of age and indicative of use. Delivered cleaned, waxed, hand rubbed polished French patina finish, ready for immediate use and generational enjoyment! ABOUT THE LEGENDARY PREVIOUS OWNER: We normally don't post about the prior owners life, but in the case of Myra Janco Daniels (1925-2022) we felt her incredible story be shared. The arts visionary and advertising Pioneer who helped transform Southwest Florida into a nationally recognized cultural destination, died June 22, three days before her 97th birthday. Daniels was founder and longtime CEO of the Philharmonic Center for the Arts (now Artis-Naples), which since 1989 has brought world-class music, theater, dance, opera, and art to Naples. In 2000, she founded the Naples Museum of Art (now the Baker Museum) on that same campus. After a storied career as an advertising executive in Chicago, Daniels came out of retirement in the early 1980s to spearhead a fund-raising drive for a small classical music ensemble on MarCo Island, which would later become the Naples Philharmonic orchestra. She discovered “a great hunger for the arts,” she later wrote, and soon expanded her fundraising goal to building a permanent home for the orchestra and an arts center for Southwest Florida. Daniels’ vision for the Philharmonic Center was ambitious and unusual – combining world-class performing and visual arts in a single venue. The Community strongly supported the concept, and the Phil, as it became known, gave Naples a national arts profile. Then-First Lady Barbara Bush was in attendance on opening night in November 1989. The Wall Street Journal covered the opening. “Myra Daniels is a dreamer. But unlike most dreamers, Myra is a doer,” the late Muriel Seibert, the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, once said of Daniels. While the arts were a lifelong passion for Daniels, her first career was as a groundbreaking advertising executive in Chicago, where she won national Advertising Woman of the Year honors and was among the first women to head a national ad firm. Daniels said that she used some of the same principles learned in her advertising career to sell Southwest Florida on the arts. “You have to believe in what you’re doing and then you have to get people involved to the point that they feel it’s theirs. That’s what we did.” Born Myra Janco in Gary, Indiana, Daniels was raised during the Great Depression by parents who encouraged her interest in the arts. But her greatest influence growing up was her grandmother Sophie, who, like Daniels, stood only five feet tall but dreamed big. “Sophie showed me what was possible,” Daniels wrote. “Create something that people want and need and you’ll be successful, she said. I always remembered that.” Her grandmother, who ran her own real estate business, experienced some failures “but she always dusted herself off and went back out there swinging. She wanted me to be that way too.” Daniels earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Indiana State and later became an associate professor of marketing at Indiana University, the first woman to hold that position. In her mid-20s, she started Wabash Advertising in Terre Haute, Indiana, which later became affiliated with larger agencies in Chicago and Cleveland. In 1963, she was named executive vice president of Roche, Rickard, Henri, Hurst, Inc. in Chicago. The National Advertising Federation honored Daniels as its Advertising Woman of the Year in 1965, the youngest woman to receive the award. That same year, she became president of a new national agency that she formed with ad man Draper Daniels. The merger was not just a professional one. Draper Daniels, who was responsible for many famous ad campaigns at the time, including the Marlboro Man and was later an inspiration for the Don Draper character on TV’s Mad Men, became her husband in 1967. Myra wrote about their unusual courtship and life together for Chicago magazine, in an article entitled “I Married a Mad Man,” which was included in her book Secrets of a Rutbuster. They ran the Draper Daniels, Incorporated agency, as it was called, until 1977. When Draper wanted to retire to Southwest Florida, Myra Daniels reluctantly left Chicago and advertising, and they settled on MarCo Island. But after Draper died of cancer in 1983, Myra turned her energies to the fundraising Campaign that led to the Philharmonic Center Cultural Complex. Daniels served as CEO of the Philharmonic Center from its inception in the 1980s to her retirement in 2011, building the Phil into a $100 million corporation. During that time, the Naples Philharmonic became a nationally recognized orchestra, with a Grammy nomination, CD and appearances on PBS; and the Naples Museum of Art developed an international reputation. The center also helped change people’s perception of Naples, which had been known mostly for its beaches and golfing. In 2005, Naples was named the Best Small Art Town in America in a book that singled out the Phil. More than just an arts venue, the Philharmonic Center also wove the arts into the culture of the Community, providing public school programs, adult and children’s education classes and workshops, and free concerts throughout Southwest Florida. Edward Villella, legendary dancer with the New York City Ballet and founder of Miami City...

1920s Art Deco Solid Rosewood Rectangular Desk With Original Fittings. The Central Drawer is housed between two sets of drawers with Chrome finished feet, and handles. This exquisite Streamline Moderne desk...

Stunning French desk from the 1930s with an elegant design characterized by linear and symmetrical shapes typical of Art Deco. The stepped top is a beautiful example of this style, a...

Executive waterfall metal desk in Art Deco, Streamline Design, Germany, 2015.

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 ...

A fabulous original American Art Deco industrial Smartline kitchen work table, designed by Raymond Patten (American, 1897-1948), retailed by Internation...

The melting writing desk's simple but elegant design, makes for an adaptable neutral piece of furniture. The cream shagreen top is framed with an ...

Small functionalist desk around 1930s professionally stained and repolished.

French Desk style: Art Deco Year: 1940 Material: Wood and bronze It is an elegant and sophisticated dream desk. The quality of the furniture and the exotic wood used make it uni...

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

Art deco macassar executive desk. France, circa 1940’s. This iconic, stunning art deco creation is out of this world. Rich, luxurious macassar ...

The Iconic Writing Desk is both elegant and minimalist with its classic aesthetic that showcases the purity of the beautiful Augousti craftsmanship...

French Desk style: Art Deco Year: 1940 Material: Wood and bronze It is an elegant and sophisticated dream desk. The quality of the furniture and the exotic wood used make it uni...

The Laurens Writing Desk is both graphic and minimalist with it’s asymmetry overlay of cream shagreen sitting on top of a bronze-patina brass structure. This piece includes 2 drawers...

Ron Seff Mid-Century Modern "Cantilevered" desk with ostrich style brown leather wrapped top and stainless steel polished drawer fronts and base.

Extraordinary curved (kidney-shaped) designer desk from the 1950/60s. Asymmetrical shape similar to that of a grand piano. Walnut, high-gloss black finish with piano lacquer. Octagon...

This supremely rare early Modernist dressing table by Maison Desny, with its novel use of clear and opaline glass, and nickel-plated and paint...