Design Critiques 3: The coffee table, Noguchi

[Mark Singer]

Here is the classic Noguchi Coffee table . It is wood and glass.
It has been made for years and is still in production.....comments?
Other tables? It was designed in 1944, so it is around 60 years old.

[Roy Wall]

The lumber looks like 4/4........I think 8/4 would be better.

And, I"d prefer a little "sleeker" / modern design in the legs.......

[Carl Eyman]

Well, obviously a lot of people like it or it would not have been around so long. I don't like it because of the "mixed media". I prefer all wood, all glass, etc. Secondly, I find the shape of the top impractical. It comes way out into the room from the sofa putting items on the far side of the table out of reach. It takes more floor space than necessary. The free form shape of the legs is pleasing, but overall it is not the coffee table I'd choose.

[Bob Hovde]

... Secondly, I find the shape of the top impractical. It comes way out into the room from the sofa putting items on the far side of the table out of reach. It takes more floor space than necessary. ....

On the other hand (OTOH?), if you have a large room and this is in the middle of a "setting" of a couch and a couple of chairs, it now gives each of them someplace to put items. Besides, I get the feeling that this isn't for the average family room. It's too formal. It would be more likely to have an "art" piece or two on it than a TV guide, the morning paper, and a coffee cup.

Bob

[Jamie Buxton]

Think what a revelation that table must have been 60 years ago.

[Carl Eyman]

Jaime: It really probably was not a revolution or a revelation. In the 1930's there was a style of furniture called "Modernistic" It is probably what makes me shy away from the unconventional in furniture. If you can pull up some pictures of it on the web, you'll see what I mean. Incidentally, I'm not classifying this table in the Modernistic style, but for those people who were into Modernistic, this would not be shocking. IMHO

[John Shuk]

I think for my part I look for a more "timeless" design when I look for furniture. I don't think that would lend itself to just any setting. I realize that no piece fits jusst anywhere. It also strikes me that the piece could have been made of any material and that there is no relationship of the wood itself to the piece. IMHO

[Jim Hinze]

I do not personally like the modernistic style. It borders on too formal, especially with the glass top. The curves are nice, but the entire piece could be made from vitrually any wood with minimal impact to the final piece.

I'm sure (as most have already stated) that it must be a popular piece and was probably qute something in it's time, but I find it unmemorable...

[Keith Christopher]

I'm not a huge fan of glass tabletops. I like the symmetry in the legs which creates kind of a flow. The glass top is there to show the wood in the legs IMHO. I'm also not a fan of this style table support. I can't truly explain why I just never seemed to latch on to it. Nice piece, well made I'm sure, but I would not buy one.


Keith

[Mark Blumer]

When my wife and I were first married, one of the first pieces of furniture we bought was a metal version of this table. The base was made of chromed tubes welded into the exact same configuration. We used it for many years and then passed it on to my married son who is still using it.

I looks to me like one of the design considerations, for the pictured table, was ease and cost of manufacturing. The two legs are identical. All you need is one pattern for a leg and you are in business. As for the shape of the top, remember the era that this was designed in. Post WWII (that is not Forrest Woodworker II) modern "Danish" had a lot of freeform designs in it and this fits that feeling. Also, the top follows the flow of the base.

Mark Blumer (East Lansing, MI)

[Roger Myers]

Sixty years is a long time, so there is certainly some support for the design, but not from me. While I favor traditional designs a great deal more than other styles, I do appreciate many different styles as well...This table however (at least as shown in the rendering) has virtually no appeal to me.

Incidentally Mark, what would the appropriate name for this style/period be?

Roger

[Jim Dunn]

Now I just a novice at this, but my minds eye says 3 supports balance that type of structure better. That's my opinion and as I remember the original "instructions" that's what is wanted in this forum.

Jim

[Kevin Arceneaux]

Nice table, I like the lines. But.......

Is it practical? Not to me and I would guess, most people. I don't live in a big house, a gallery, or in a museum. I do have a living room, but it has been turned into a workout and sewing area. You couldn't have that where there are critters or kids. While I do not mind looking at designs, I prefer something that I can use. I have been to Falling Waters and loved it. But I wouldn't want to live in a house like that or have furniture like that.

[Jim Becker]

I'm a fan of structure that works and this is an example of a three-point support structure that I have come to believe in. (Living in our house with its uneven floors of wood and brick would make anyone quickly embrace three-point designs!) This particular example is a very fluid, contemporary version, but it would be easy to duplicate in more or less extreme styling. It would be hard to pull off in motifs that depend upon that "four point symmetry", however. Aside from the practical aspects of this base design, it works with just about any shape of top, especially irregular ones and feels "grounded" no matter how simple or extreme. IMHO, of course!

The Noguci sample also uses symmetry between the "two" members that make up the three-point base. This is a design that can also be repeatable in a room to tie together a number of objects in the right setting.

Here is an example of using a three point base by Nakashima; slightly different in that all three points are not connected and not symmetrical. It still looks stable, but unlike the Noguci table, this one also visually feels like it's moving...your eye is drawn from one point to another by the shape and the base structure.



There have been other examples of Nakashima's slab tables that also used the three point base...and I plan a version for our great room out of a nice big "platter" of cherry I have out in the shop. And yes, it will have a three-point base.

[Keith Christopher]

I have no issue with a 3 point base. I just don't like that interpretation of it. It is as stable as any other, but the design depicted doesn't call to me.



Keith