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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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.
21st Century and Contemporary German Modern Tables
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary German Modern Tables
Glass
2010s Spanish Modern Tables
Stone
2010s Hungarian Modern Tables
Steel
Late 20th Century Modern Tables
Brass
2010s Italian Modern Tables
Steel, Iron
2010s Spanish Modern Tables
Glass, Ash
2010s Indonesian Modern Tables
Steel
2010s Indonesian Modern Tables
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Plastic
2010s Modern Tables
Copper
2010s Italian Modern Tables
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Swiss Modern Tables
Wood
2010s Mexican Modern Tables
Iron
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Metal
2010s English Modern Tables
Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Swiss Modern Tables
Glass
2010s French Modern Tables
Metal
2010s Turkish Modern Tables
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Aluminum
2010s Belgian Modern Tables
Wood
2010s Italian Modern Tables
Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Walnut
21st Century and Contemporary Swiss Modern Tables
Marble
2010s Mexican Modern Tables
Wood
2010s Danish Modern Tables
Steel
2010s American Modern Tables
Other
2010s American Modern Tables
Brass
2010s American Modern Tables
Travertine, Brass, Stainless Steel, Bronze
2010s American Modern Tables
Maple, Oak, Walnut
21st Century and Contemporary Swiss Modern Tables
Leather
2010s Italian Modern Tables
Marble
21st Century and Contemporary Swiss Modern Tables
Glass
2010s Mexican Modern Tables
Copper
2010s Swedish Modern Tables
Glass, Spruce
2010s Spanish Modern Tables
Quartz
1970s Italian Vintage Modern Tables
Travertine, Marble
2010s Belgian Modern Tables
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Swiss Modern Tables
Oak
2010s Danish Modern Tables
Steel
2010s Mexican Modern Tables
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Swiss Modern Tables
Oak
Early 20th Century Italian Modern Tables
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Swiss Modern Tables
Glass
2010s Chinese Modern Tables
Fiberglass
2010s American Modern Tables
Maple, Oak, Walnut
2010s Belgian Modern Tables
Wood
2010s Egyptian Modern Tables
Fiberglass
2010s American Modern Tables
Maple, Oak, Walnut
2010s Danish Modern Tables
Marble, Steel
2010s Indian Modern Tables
Metal
2010s Italian Modern Tables
Steel
2010s Danish Modern Tables
Iron
2010s German Modern Tables
Ceramic
20th Century Italian Modern Tables
Metal, Brass, Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary Swiss Modern Tables
Stone
21st Century and Contemporary Turkish Modern Tables
Brass
2010s Italian Modern Tables
Terrazzo