Steel Desks and Writing Tables

Reply Dutch Design Architect drafting table designed by Wim Rietveld and Friso Kramer for Ahrend de Circel in 1959. Design classic, awarded with the "Signe d’Or". The table top is ...

Midcentury "Platone" white ivory plastic and chromed metal folding desk. This playful piece, "Platone", was designed by Giancarlo Piretti for Castelli in Italy during 1970s. The white ivory top is a perfect match with the bold design of this little table, with the metal structure sustaining the table on one side. The desk could function perfectly in a modern or midcentury style children's room or office. Italian interior and industrial designer Giancarlo Piretti was born in 1940 in Bologna. He obtained his teaching degree in drawing at the Art Institute of Bologna (dates unknown), and continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna in 1960. From 1963 until 1970, he taught interior design at the Art Institute of Bologna. Sometime in the 1960s, Piretti also joined Italian design company Castelli as an interior designer, creating home furniture and office furnishings. During his twelve years at Castelli, Piretti obtained numerous industrial patents for his designs, which were mostly chairs. Piretti’s work for Castelli garnered the company an international reputation in furniture design. His most well-known design is the plastic folding Plia Chair (1968), which has sold over seven million copies since 1969 and is still in production. It won the BIO 5 distinction and the SMAU prize at the Ljubljana Biennial in 1971, Germany’s Gute Form prize in 1973, and can be found in permanent collections in various museums world-wide, including Austria, Czech Republic, Slovenia and the United States. In 1969 the complementary Plia Table was equally well-received in design circles, these revolutionary designs measured just 5 cm in depth when folded, a marvel in the 1960s. In the late 1970s, Piretti worked with Argentine architect-designer Emilio Ambasz (b. 1943) on several award-winning designs, including the two ergonomic seating systems Vertebra (1975, winner of the Smau Industrial Design Award in 1979) and Dorsal (1981). From 1984-1986 Piretti worked for Castilia, a firm that was part of the Castelli group, that specialized in the production of home furniture characterized by functional and aesthetic systems. In 1988, Piretti revealed The Piretti Collection in Chicago, which included over 50 different office chairs and seating styles. It is still manufactured by various licensees around the world. The collection, which has won several prizes including the UBD, the ASID, the Compasso d'Oro and the G-Mark, was designed to respond to the specific needs of each individual user. In 1997, the collection reached the milestone of one million chairs sold. Today, they have sold more than two-and-a-half million pieces from the collection. Other well-known design include the DCS 106 stacking chair (1965); Plona lounge chair (1969); Alky chair (1970s); Plantone Folding desk (1970); Plano (1971, Gold Medal IBD); Planto coat rack (1972); the system 61 modular sofa system (1973); Xylon Chair...

This fantastic Greta Grossman desk by Glenn of California is a rare variation in all white which contrasts beautifully with the walnut wood.