Noguchi table

Designer Designer A designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object". In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a...  : Isamu Noguchi Isamu Noguchi was a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces,...

Date : 1947

Country Country A country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously...  : United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Materials : wood Wood Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...  base. Glass Glass Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...  top.

Style/Tradition : Modernist Modernism Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...

Dimensions: (36"Wx50"Dx15 ¾"H)

Wood : originally Walnut Walnut Juglans is a plant genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are known as walnuts. They are deciduous trees, 10–40 meters tall , with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres long , with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts , but not the hickories... , Birch Birch Birch is a tree or shrub of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. The Betula genus contains 30–60 known taxa... , and Cherry Cherry The cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus, and is a fleshy stone fruit. The cherry fruits of commerce are usually obtained from a limited number of species, including especially cultivars of the wild cherry, Prunus avium....

The Noguchi table is a piece of modernist furniture first produced in the mid-20th century. Introduced by Herman Miller

Herman Miller

Herman Miller may refer to:*Herman Miller , U.S. manufacturer of office furniture and equipment*Herman Miller , Hollywood writer and producer...

 in 1947, it was designed in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 by artist and industrial designer Isamu Noguchi

Isamu Noguchi

was a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces,...

. The Noguchi table comprises a wooden base composed of two identical curved wood pieces, and a heavy plate glass top.

History

The Noguchi table was an evolution of a rosewood

Rosewood

Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining, but found in many different hues. All rosewoods are strong and heavy, taking an excellent polish, being suitable for guitars, marimbas, turnery , handles, furniture, luxury flooring, etc.In general,...

 and glass table Noguchi designed in 1939 for Conger Goodyear, president of the Museum of Modern Art

Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...

. The design team at Herman Miller was so impressed by the table's use of Biomorphism

Biomorphism

Biomorphism is an art movement that began in the 20th century. It patterns artistic design elements on naturally occurring patterns or shapes reminiscent of nature. Taken to its extreme it attempts to force naturally occurring shapes onto functional devices, often with mixed results.-History:The...

 that they recruited Noguchi to design a similar table with a freeform sculptural base and biomorphic glass top for use in both residential and office environments. The 1947 Herman Miller catalog described the Noguchi coffee table as "sculpture-for-use" and "design for production". The base was carved from solid walnut, and consisted of two identical parts; when one part "is reversed and connected to the other by a pivot rod, a base appears which has a smoothly flowing form and an interest rarely found in furniture of any period." The shape of the two wooden supports produces a self-supporting and stable base, allowing the heavy plate glass top to be placed without the use of connectors.

Construction

The base was originally produced in Walnut, Birch, and Cherry. It was later reissued in Ebonized Walnut. Cherry bases were made only during the first year the table was on the market, and have been highly sought since. Birch bases were manufactured between 1947 and 1954.

The top was originally issued in ⅞" plate glass. In 1965, the thickness of the top was reduced to ¾", and its base height was raised, increasing the table's total height from 15" to 15 ¾".

Production

The Noguchi table became one of Herman Miller's most iconic and successful designs. Production ceased in 1973, and the piece became an instant collectible. Herman Miller reissued it in 1980 in a limited edition of about 480 tables. The table was reintroduced again in 1984 for the "Herman Miller Classics" line, and has been in production ever since.

Survivors

Despite their status as modern classics, Noguchi tables are widely available and relatively affordable. This is at least partly due to the fact that they were in constant production from 1947 until 1973, returned to production in 1984, and have been produced ever since. In addition, the table is very durable, and few have been lost over the years. The base can be dinged and scratched but almost never cracks or breaks. The glass tops are prone to chipping along the edges and scratching on the upper surface, but are so large and heavy they rarely break. The table can support a great weight without damage. Earlier tables are easily distinguished by their ⅞" thick tops, but do not command much premium over the current lighter and easier to handle ¾" models. Expect to pay $500 and up for an undamaged example, and $1,500 and up for an early version in birch. Only the 1947 cherry tables are truly rare collectibles. These specimens rarely show up for sale except at high-end auctions.

• Two Noguchi tables, one in natural birch and one in ebonized birch, are in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art
  Museum of Modern Art
  The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
  
   in New York City
  New York City
  New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
  
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• A Noguchi table in ebonized birch is on display at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan
  Dearborn, Michigan
  -Economy:Ford Motor Company has its world headquarters in Dearborn. In addition its Dearborn campus contains many research, testing, finance and some production facilities. Ford Land controls the numerous properties owned by Ford including sales and leasing to unrelated businesses such as the...
  
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