Modernity Side Tables

These 'Model 36' bedside tables by Severin Hansen Jr. for Illums Bolighus is a refined example of Danish modern design. Executed in richly figured rosewood, each table displays the d...

Model 914 is a refined bedside table designed by Josef Frank in the 1950s for Svenskt Tenn. Executed in mahogany, the design is defined by its clear proportions: a rectangular top wi...

This side table was designed by Sten Blomberg for David Blomberg AB in Sweden in 1933. Executed in black-painted birch with a nickel-plated top and fittings, it reflects the shift in...

This ‘Lovö’ side table was designed by Axel Einar Hjorth for Nordiska Kompaniet in Sweden during the 1930s. Executed in stained pine, it belongs to Hjorth’s well-known series of Spor...

Model 914 is a refined bedside table designed in the 1950s by Josef Frank for Svenskt Tenn. Executed in mahogany, the piece is defined by clear proportions and a practical, well-bala...

Pair of bedside tables, anonymous for DUX, Sweden. 1960s. Cane, rattan and teak. The colonial-style combination of cane, rattan, and teak makes this Scandinavian bedside table desi...

Side/bedside table, anonymous, Denmark. 1960's. Wenge. Dimensions: H: 50 cm/ 19 3/4" L: 50 cm/ 19 3/4" D: 40 cm/ 15 3/4"

Coffee table designed by Frode Holm for Illums Bolighus, Denmark. 1950's. Rosewood. Measurements: H: 56 cm/ 22'' L: 121 cm/ 4' W: 61 c...

Occasional table designed by Josef Frank for Svenskt Tenn, Sweden, 1950s. Mahogany. Measurements: H: 60 cm/ 23 1/2'' Length when extened: 104 cm/ 3' 5'' D: 54 cm/ 21 1/2''   Jose...

Bedside table model 914 designed by Josef Frank for Svenskt Tenn, Sweden, 1950s. Mahogany veneer and brass handle. Josef Frank’s elegant bedside table model 914 with sophisticated brass handles is one of Svenskt Tenn’s timeless classics. It works very well combined with modern or antique pieces. The overall simplicity of form and use of luxurious wood are characteristic of Josef Frank. L: 65 cm W: 40 cm H: 55 cm Josef Frank was a true European, he was also a pioneer of what would become classic 20th century Swedish design and the “Scandinavian Design Style”. Austrian- born Frank started his design career as an architect after having trained at the Technische Hochschule in Vienna between 1903 and 1910. After his training he went on to teach at Kunstgewerbeschule (The Viennese School of Arts and crafts) where he developed and espoused the new school of modernist thinking towards Architecture and Design that was coming to fruition in Vienna at the time. He also went on to lead the Vienna Werkbund throughout the 1920s. This was a truly progressive group of Architects and Designers who set about improving the daily lives of Austrian people through modernist design and architecture in partnership with Arts and Crafts ideals and construction. Frank’s leadership of the Werkbund had already cemented his place at the forefront of European design. Frank’s time in Vienna was typified by his design for the “Die Wohnung” exhibition of the Deutscher Werkbund in Stuttgart, 1927 where he exhibited along side his contemporaries at the forefront of design, such as the likes of Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius. Here he showed a specially designed pair of flat-roofed reinforced concrete houses in what is now seen as a typical modernist style. What separated Frank’s house from the other 32 houses of the exhibition was the interior and furniture inside the building. It was described as “Neo-Classical” and filled with an eclectic mix of period pieces, modern design and pieces designed by Frank himself that seemed to cross the two worlds. This was a complete opposite direction to that which his fellow Architects were travelling in with their pared back and angular aesthetics. Frank said of his own work: “The house is not a work of art, simply a place where one lives,” and by this reasoning Frank rejected the regimental mechanisation of the living space that his contemporaries believed in, instead he set about creating congenial and spontaneous interiors. Frank’s practice saw him placing the bright colours and the soft forms of nature back into the furnishings and interiors that he thought modernism sorely mist. Frank, along with Oskar Walch set up Haus und Garten in Vienna in 1925. This was Frank’s first commercial foray into furniture and home furnishings and the company went on to become the most influential furnishing house in Vienna with a riotous depth of colour and interesting shapes becoming the trademark of their design. However this success was to come to an end with rise of Nazism in Vienna in the early 1930’s. Frank was Jewish, and he and his wife Anna decided they would leave Vienna for her motherland: Sweden, in 1933. Frank continued to design for Haus and Garten, visiting Vienna occasionally and designing the pieces that would continue to be the company’s best...

Table Annika designed by Bruno Mathsson for Karl Mathsson, Sweden. 1936. Elm top and birch legs. Measurements: H: 65 cm / 2' 2" D: 95 cm / 3' 1 7/8" This round “Annika” occasional table was manufactured in 1967 and designed in 1936; it is made of birch with a smooth Oregon pine top. Bruno Mathsson created various iterations of his “Annika” model — they come in three shapes with different wood combinations and various heights. They can be round with three legs, square with four legs, or rectangular with six legs, allowing exciting and contrasting combinations when grouped. While the design aesthetic is delicate, the table is very well-made because of the strong plywood. Bruno Mathsson’s love for nature pervades all his designs — he frequently slept outside in the forest or his garden on a specially designed foldable bed. His furniture shapes, particularly the legs, bring bull's horns or insects to mind. Mathsson was one of the most important Swedish designers of the 20th century. He was a contemporary of Alvar Aalto and Marcel Breuer, all of whom had already experimented with bent plywood during the 1930s. Karl Mathsson, Bruno Mathsson's father, was the fifth generation in a family of master cabinet makers. He owned a furniture manufacturing company that produced the earlier pieces; later, they founded "Mathsson International”. The stamp indicates the manufacturing date and, sometimes, the design date. Bruno Mathsson often gave his furniture Swedish woman...

Side table designed by Severin Hansen Jr. for Haslev Möbelsnedkeri. Denmark, 1950s. Rosewood. Stamped. Measures: H: 50 cm W: 50 cm D: 35 cm.

Side table designed by Jens Harald Quistgaard, Denmark, 1950s. Teak. Exquisite woodwork and a beautifully shaped, removable tray surface that can function as a bowl characterise th...

This bedside table, produced in Sweden in the 1960s for DUX, combines Scandinavian Modern construction with subtle references to colonial furniture traditions. Executed in teak, the ...

Pair of bedside tables, anonymous for DUX, Sweden. 1960s. Cane, rattan and teak. The colonial-style combination of cane, rattan, and teak makes this Scandinavian bedside table desi...

Occasional table model 2168 designed by Josef Frank for Svenskt Tenn, Sweden. 1950s. Walnut and marble. Josef Frank’s occasional table “model 2168” is one of his rarer models. Its beautifully carved, turned legs...

Side table designed by Anti Hakkarainen for Taidetakomo Hakkarainen, Finland 1949. Stone mosaic top, forged iron base. Measurements: H: 49.5...

Side table 'Model 6' in richly figured rosewood, designed by Helge Vestergaard Jensen and produced by Jason Møbler in the 1960s, exemplifies the disciplined proportions and material ...

This sideboard, dating from the 1930s–1940s, is veneered in richly figured elm, the expressive grain lending depth and quiet movement across its surface. The composition is balanced ...

A pair of bedside tables attributed to DUX, Sweden, 1960. These elegant Scandinavian bedside tables combine cane, rattan, bamboo, and teak, uniting natural warmth with refined crafts...

Side table designed by Jens Quistgaard, Denmark. 1950s Teak.

Side table designed by Jens Quistgaard, Denmark, 1950s Teak. Exquisite woodwork and a beautifully shaped, removable tray surface that can function as a bowl characterise this Danis...

Pair of bedside tables, anonymous for DUX, Sweden, 1960s. Cane, rattan, teak and metal. The colonial-style combination of bamboo, rattan, cane, and wood makes this Scandinavian bed...

Side table designed by Jens Quistgaard, Denmark, 1950s. Teak. H: 44 cm Diameter: 55.5 cm

Kalmar pine. Measures: H 94 cm/ 1' 1" W 41-87 cm/ 1' 4"- 2' 10 1/8" D 26 cm/ 10 1/8".  

Occasional table, anonymous, Sweden. 1940s. Mahogany. Dimensions: H: 60.5 cm / 23 3/4" W: 60 cm / 23 1/2" D: 30 cm / 11 3/4"

Side table, anonymous, Sweden, 1960s. Rosewood with metal frame and legs. Dimensions: L: 63 cm/ 2' 3/4" D: 39.5 cm/ 1' 3 1/2" H: 46 cm/ 1' 6"