Modern Tables
The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw sweeping social change and major scientific advances — both of which contributed to a new aesthetic: modernism. Rejecting the rigidity of Victorian artistic conventions, modernists sought a new means of expression. References to the natural world and ornate classical embellishments gave way to the sleek simplicity of the Machine Age. Architect Philip Johnson characterized the hallmarks of modernism as “machine-like simplicity, smoothness or surface [and] avoidance of ornament.”
Early practitioners of modernist design include the De Stijl (“The Style”) group, founded in the Netherlands in 1917, and the Bauhaus School, founded two years later in Germany.
Followers of both groups produced sleek, spare designs — many of which became icons of daily life in the 20th century. The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics. While Bauhaus principals Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created furniture from mass-produced, chrome-plated steel, American visionaries like Charles and Ray Eames worked in materials as novel as molded plywood and fiberglass. Today, Breuer’s Wassily chair, Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair — crafted with his romantic partner, designer Lilly Reich — and the Eames lounge chair are emblems of progressive design and vintage originals are prized cornerstones of collections.
It’s difficult to overstate the influence that modernism continues to wield over designers and architects — and equally difficult to overstate how revolutionary it was when it first appeared a century ago. But because modernist furniture designs are so simple, they can blend in seamlessly with just about any type of décor. Don’t overlook them.
2010s American Modern Tables
Wood, Oak
2010s Belgian Modern Tables
Wood
2010s Turkish Modern Tables
Stone
2010s Belgian Modern Tables
Brass, Steel
2010s Portuguese Modern Tables
Brass
2010s Turkish Modern Tables
Stone
2010s Italian Modern Tables
Marble, Brass
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Tables
Glass, Wood, Lacquer
2010s Portuguese Modern Tables
Wood, Plywood, Oak
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Walnut
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Rattan
20th Century American Modern Tables
Wood
2010s European Modern Tables
Wood, Plywood, Ash
2010s Spanish Modern Tables
Wood
2010s Belgian Modern Tables
Pine
2010s Belgian Modern Tables
Leather, Pine
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Tables
Mirror, Wood
2010s French Modern Tables
Metal
2010s Portuguese Modern Tables
Wood
1980s French Vintage Modern Tables
Wood, Goatskin
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Modern Tables
Onyx
2010s Spanish Modern Tables
Wood
2010s Italian Modern Tables
Marble, Metal
2010s Italian Modern Tables
Travertine
2010s Turkish Modern Tables
Stone
2010s French Modern Tables
Metal
2010s Lebanese Modern Tables
Steel
2010s French Modern Tables
Metal
2010s Spanish Modern Tables
Metal
2010s Turkish Modern Tables
Marble, Brass
2010s Turkish Modern Tables
Stone
2010s Lebanese Modern Tables
Steel
2010s German Modern Tables
Marble, Metal
2010s European Modern Tables
Wood, Plywood, Walnut
2010s European Modern Tables
Oak, Wood, Plywood
2010s European Modern Tables
Wood, Plywood, Oak
2010s Lebanese Modern Tables
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Walnut
2010s Turkish Modern Tables
Marble, Steel
2010s English Modern Tables
Other
2010s Portuguese Modern Tables
Wood, Walnut
2010s Dutch Modern Tables
Ceramic
2010s English Modern Tables
Other
2010s Lebanese Modern Tables
Steel
2010s English Modern Tables
Other
2010s European Modern Tables
Wood, Plywood, Walnut
2010s English Modern Tables
Other
20th Century Modern Tables
Teak
2010s English Modern Tables
Other
2010s English Modern Tables
Other
2010s Canadian Modern Tables
Clay, Walnut, Hardwood
2010s English Modern Tables
Other
2010s Turkish Modern Tables
Stone
2010s European Modern Tables
Brass
2010s South African Modern Tables
Hardwood
2010s Canadian Modern Tables
Hardwood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Glass, Resin
Early 2000s Dutch Modern Tables
Wood