Rare Nicos Zographos Rosewood Dining Table for Stow Davis

Industrial designer Nicos Zographos is renowned as a mid-century modern master. His abstract structures and minimalist forms helped elevate 20th-century furniture design.

Born in Athens, Greece, in 1931, Zographos completed his graduate degree at the University of Iowa before joining the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in 1957.

He worked in SOM’s interior design department, where he enjoyed unlimited creative freedom, resulting in the design of two critically acclaimed pieces. The fluid Ribbon chair, which he created in 1959, is an interpretation of the Barcelona chair by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The Alpha bucket chair, featuring Zographos’s signature reverse curl, was designed in 1960. Also while at SOM, Zographos developed a suite of TA35 low tables, which have gentle curves and slim stainless steel legs.

Zographos spent five years at SOM before he formed his own company, Zographos Designs Limited, in 1964. The New York-based firm manufactured elegant, polished and streamlined pieces such as lounge chairs, office chairs, side tables, coffee tables and dining room tables. Several of his furnishings have been included in interiors by such revered architects as Gordon Bunshaft and I.M. Pei.

Among Zographos’s most iconic designs are the wood-carved Ireland chair, the wooden Saronis tables and his two tubular-steel cantilevered chairs: the solid CH17 chair and the CH66 chair, which he designed in 1966. It is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Zographos has retired to his native Greece, and Zographos Designs Limited recently closed after 56 years in business. His pieces continue to be highly sought by interior designers and avid vintage furniture collectors.

On 1stDibs, find a range of vintage Nicos Zographos seating and tables.

Stow & Davis made history when it introduced the first wood and steel framework desk in 1928. The American furniture company subsequently became a leader of mid-century modern office furniture production and design.

Before the company was Stow & Davis, it was the Stow and Haight Furniture Company, formed by the partnership of Russell Stow and Thomas Haight in 1880. It produced kitchen and dining extension tables from a workshop in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 1885, businessman George A. Davis purchased Haight’s interest in the firm, and its name was changed to Stow & Davis.

The company turned its attention to manufacturing office furniture, producing its first boardroom table in 1889. By the 1890s, Stow & Davis had established itself as a major supplier of furniture for libraries and offices. By 1916, it was supplying banks with furniture like its sturdy wood Colonial Revival style boardroom tables, leather-upholstered executive and swivel chairs and traditional desks in oak and mahogany.

The Great Depression forced the reorganization of Stow & Davis, and, during World War II, the company was commissioned to manufacture wooden desks, chairs and bunk beds for United States Navy vessels. 

During the 1950s and ’60s, Stow & Davis explored innovative elements of mid-century modernism, collaborating with several notable designers to produce new series inspired by the emerging Art Moderne movement. Instead of solid, classic American designs, Stow & Davis furniture now incorporated curved lines, rounded edges and sleek finishes. These included pieces like American designer Bert England’s stainless steel frame office chairs, walnut and bronzed steel conference tables by Italian designer Osvaldo Borsani and sophisticated Florence Knoll-style credenzas by Giacomo Buzzitta.

In 1985, the Grand Rapids furniture company Steelcase acquired Stow & Davis, and, in 1992, it continued to produce furniture for offices, hotels and homes under a new name: Stow Davis.

On 1stDibs, discover a range of vintage Stow & Davis seating, case pieces and storage cabinets, tables and more.