Mid Century White Round Dining Table by Eero Aarnio, around 1970
About the Item
- Creator:Eero Aarnio (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 28.35 in (72 cm)Diameter: 49.61 in (126 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:circa 1970
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Berlin, DE
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU2196335151792
Eero Aarnio
“I always look ahead, never back,” Finnish design legend Eero Aarnio has been quoted as saying. A leading innovator of modern furniture design, Aarnio has long embraced a bold, playful, confident and colorful style several steps ahead of his time.
For his 1954 entrance test for the Institute of Industrial Arts in Helsinki, Aarnio created a whimsical painting of a man reading a newspaper in a red, curved chair whose silhouette foreshadowed Aarnio’s Ball chair of 1963. That spherical seat skyrocketed him to design fame, and decades later, it is still recognized as one of the world’s most futuristic designs.
Born in 1932 to a house painter and a seamstress, Aarnio has always had a cheerful disposition and an independent spirit. He went his own way early on: After just two years at Asko, the big Scandinavian furniture company that originally produced his Ball chair, Aarnio established his own studio in 1962.
Over the next decade, the young visionary made an indelible mark on the world. Open-minded and entrepreneurial, Aarnio embraced the aesthetics, materials and technologies of the Swinging Sixties, working with a new generation of plastics and molding them into fluid, organically shaped, brightly hued forms.
Introduced at the 1966 Cologne Furniture Fair, the pod-like fiberglass Ball chair soon adorned the homes of movie stars and royalty, graced magazine covers around the world and was featured in films and ads. The groundbreaking seat originally came in orange, white, black, yellow and red and could be ordered with a telephone installed in it. Yet this designer of the future, as he was known in the 1960s, has always insisted that he didn’t deliberately seek to be associated with the decade’s sci-fi aesthetic.
“I had no intention to create either pop or Space Age design — as many people label my work,” Aarnio declares in one of the essays included in Eero Aarnio — Designer of Colour and Joy, a book jointly created by the Design Museum and publisher WSOY to accompany 2016’s “Eero Aarnio” exhibition.
The show featured a number of Aarnio’s objects, including his iconic Ball, Pastil (1967), Bubble (1968), Tomato (1971) and Pony (1973) chairs. These were joined by lesser-known seating and other objects like the rattan Juttujakkara, or mushroom, stool (1960); the sculptural Double Bubble lamp (2000), with which Aarnio first explored the possibilities of rotation-cast plastic; and the three-legged Rocket (1995) and Baby Rocket (2006) stools, both parts of a collection produced by Artek after Tom Dixon, the company’s creative director from 2004 to 2009, discovered the original piece in Aarnio’s kitchen.
“Aarnio expanded the whole idea of what constitutes furniture,” explained Suvi Saloniemi, the Design Museum’s chief curator. “His significance as a designer is crystallized in the liberation of form that he has introduced by discovering the properties of plastic as the material of a designer. His furniture is sculpture-like and eye-catching, but the pieces are always utilitarian at the same time.”
Find an extraordinary range of vintage Eero Aarnio chairs, tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Berlin, Germany
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 7 days of delivery.
- Midcentury Italian Black and White Dining Table Attributed to Ico Parisi, 1958By Paolo di Poli, Gio Ponti, Ico Parisi, Siva PoggibonsiLocated in Berlin, DEThis extraordinary midcentury Italian dining table is attributed to Ico Parisi and Paolo di Poli. It is made out of black lacquered metal, Formica and brass. It has got a fantastic s...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsMetal, Brass
- Contemporary Abstract Painted Dining Table in Black and White, 1950s BaseBy Felix BachmannLocated in Berlin, DEElevate your dining experience with this striking contemporary abstract painted dining table featuring a 1950s base. The marriage of black and white hues on its surface creates a cap...Category
2010s Italian Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsBeech, Lacquer
- Late 19th Century Italian Large Brown Walnut Dining Table with 2 Drawers, 1880Located in Berlin, DETransport yourself to the opulence of late 19th-century Italy with this exquisite dining table, a splendid relic from 1880. The base is crafted from rich brown solid walnut and the ...Category
Antique 1880s Italian Dining Room Tables
MaterialsWalnut, Spruce
- Midcentury Italian Black and Cherrywood Dining Table Style of Ico ParisiBy Ico ParisiLocated in Berlin, DEThis elegant midcentury Italian dining table is made in the style of Ico Parisi. The sculptural base is ebonized beech and the tabletop is made out of solid cherrywood. (the top is ...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsBeech, Cherry
- Midcentury Italian Black Lacquered Metal and Limed Elm Top Dining Table, 1950sLocated in Berlin, DEThis beautiful midcentury Italian dining table has an elegant black lacquered metal base and the limed elm top is made out of old church benches. A...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsMetal
- Mid-Century Green Octagon Onyx Coffee Table with Round Off-White Wood Base, 1970Located in Berlin, DEThis beautiful midcentury coffee table was made in the 1970s in Germany. The top has an octagon shape and is made out of green onyx. The round wood base is re-painted in an off whit...Category
Vintage 1970s German Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsOnyx
- Mid-Century Round Dining Table, 1970sLocated in GNIEZNO, 30The table was produced in Denmark in the 1970s. Table top made of oak veneer. The furniture is after a comprehensive carpentry renovation, cleaned of the old coating, finished with ...Category
Vintage 1960s Danish Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsAluminum
- Mid-Century Round Dining Table, 1970sLocated in GNIEZNO, 30The table was produced in Denmark in the 1970s. Table top made of jatobe veneer. The furniture is after a comprehensive carpentry renovation, cleaned of the old coating, finished wit...Category
Vintage 1970s Danish Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsAluminum
- Mid-century Round White Marble Tulip Dining Table by Eero Saarinen for KnollBy Eero SaarinenLocated in Brussels, BEMid-century Round White Marble Tulip Dining Table by Eero Saarinen for Knoll, Italy, 1960sCategory
Vintage 1960s Dining Room Tables
MaterialsMarble
- Mid-Century Small Round Dining Table by Eero Saarinen for Knoll InternationalBy Eero SaarinenLocated in Brussels, BEMid-Century Small Round Dining Table by Eero Saarinen for Knoll International, 1960sCategory
Vintage 1960s Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsMarble
- Mid-Century Teak Round Dining Table, 1970sLocated in GNIEZNO, 30The table was produced in Denmark in the 1970s. Table top made of teak veneer. The furniture is after a comprehensive carpentry renovation, cleaned of the old coating, finished with ...Category
Vintage 1970s Danish Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsAluminum
- Eero Aarnio Large White Screw TableBy Eero AarnioLocated in New York, NYDesigned by Eero Aarnio, 1991 Eero’s approach to industrial design has often seen simple and hidden forms become real and visible objects. Screws are used...Category
2010s Finnish Modern Tables
MaterialsFiberglass
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
The 21 Most Popular Mid-Century Modern Chairs
You know the designs, now get the stories about how they came to be.
The Ball Chair, Eero Aarnio’s Space Age Masterpiece, Was Almost Never Made
Now considered emblematic of 1960s mod aesthetics, the Finnish designer's famous creation was far from an overnight success.