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 The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics.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
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Copper
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Rosewood, Glass
2010s British Modern Tables
Marble, Carrara Marble
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Walnut
2010s British Modern Tables
Marble, Carrara Marble
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Ash
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Wood, Blown Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Wood
2010s Dutch Modern Tables
Resin
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Fiberglass, Poplar, Plywood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Walnut
21st Century and Contemporary Austrian Modern Tables
Wood
1990s American Modern Tables
Sandstone
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Marble, Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Wood
2010s British Modern Tables
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Iron
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Steel
2010s British Modern Tables
Marble
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Ash
21st Century and Contemporary Danish Modern Tables
Carrara Marble
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Ceramic
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary German Modern Tables
Blown Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Marble, Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary German Modern Tables
Blown Glass
21st Century and Contemporary German Modern Tables
Glass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Beech
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Carrara Marble
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Rattan
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Tables
Resin
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Lacquer
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Tables
Resin
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Oak
21st Century and Contemporary German Modern Tables
Steel
2010s British Modern Tables
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Walnut
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Laminate
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Tables
Resin
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Modern Tables
Resin
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Iron
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Iron
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables
Carrara Marble