Coffee table

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A coffee table, also called a cocktail table, is a style of long, low table which is designed to be placed in front of a sofa, to support beverages (hence the name), magazines, feet, books (especially coffee table books), and other small items to be used while sitting, such as coasters. Coffee tables are usually found in the living room or sitting room. They are available in many different variations and prices vary from style to style. Coffee tables may also incorporate cabinets for storage.
The idiom "Gather round the coffee table" is derived from the furniture piece and its proclivity for encouraging conviviality and light conversation.

Origins of the coffee table

In Europe, the first tables specifically designed as and called coffee tables, appear to have been made in Britain during the late Victorian era.
Prior to the late 18th century, the tables used in Europe in conjunction with a settle included occasional tables, end tables, centre tables, and tea tables. By 1780, the high backed settle was being replaced by low back sofas and this led to the development of sofa tables which stood against the back of the sofa and could be used by anyone sitting on the sofa to put down a book or a cup.
According to the listing in Victorian Furniture by R. W. Symonds & B. B. Whineray and also in The Country Life Book of English Furniture by Edward T. Joy, a table designed by E. W. Godwin in 1868 and made in large numbers by William Watt, and Collinson and Lock, is a coffee table. If this is correct it may be one of the earliest made in Europe. Other sources, however, list it only as 'table' so this can be stated categorically. Far from being a low table, this table was about twenty-seven inches high.
Later coffee tables were designed as low tables and this idea may have come from the Ottoman Empire, based on the tables in use in tea gardens. However, as the Anglo-Japanese style was popular in Britain throughout the 1870s and 1880s and low tables were common in Japan, this seems to be an equally likely source for the concept of a long low table.

From the late 19th century onwards, many coffee tables were subsequently made in earlier styles due to the popularity of revivalism, so it is quite possible to find Louis XVI style coffee tables or Georgian style coffee tables, but there seems to be no evidence of a table actually made as a coffee table before this time. Joseph Aronson writing in 1938 defines a coffee table as a, "Low wide table now used before a sofa or couch. There is no historical precedent...," suggesting that coffee tables were a late development in the history of furniture.
Also, use of similar tables has been recorded in the ancient Greek era, following the Roman conquest of North-East Africa.

THE COFFEE HOUSES

The first coffee house to open in Britain was opened in Oxford in 1650 by a Jew called Jacob, and was followed in 1652 by the opening of the first coffee house in London by Pasqua Rosee, a native of Turkey and the former servant of a merchant. The popularity of this first establishment was such that it was imitated widely and coffee houses became ubiquitous in the City of London. Known as the Penny Universities, (the entry fee, which included a cup of coffee, was one penny), as it was reckoned that you could learn as much there as going to university, the coffee houses became the gathering places of merchants, scholars, politicians, businessmen and the like.

The coffee houses played an important part in the development of the City of London. For instance, the Edward Lloyd coffee house established in 1688 later became Lloyds of London. Other coffee houses where the stock jobbers congregated to do business after being expelled from the Royal Exchange formed the basis for what was to eventually become the London Stock Exchange.

The popularity of coffee drinking is said to have spread to the rest of Europe from the Ottoman Empire after the Battle of Vienna in 1683.

ORIGINS OF THE COFFEE TABLE

GODWIN'S COFFEE TABLE

The idea of a table specifically used for serving hot drinks or putting down one's cup between sips predates the coffee table in Europe by some time. In Britain in 1750 tea drinking was at the height of fashion and there was increasing demand for tea tables. There were pillar and claw tripod tea tables with a round top that were later hinged and were taller than present day coffee tables. There were also examples of tea or china tables that were rectangular. Other forms of tables in use at this time which could be placed near to a sofa were called occasional tables, end tables, and centre tables.

High backed settees used in the latter part of the 17th century and the early part of the 18th century were gradually replaced by low back sofas around about 1780 and these sofas were sometimes used in conjunction with sofa tables. Sofa tables were designed to stand at the back of the sofa, a development that had been made feasible by the lower back. They might have a candle on them and could be used to put down a book or a cup of tea or coffee between sips. All of these tables to some extent could be considered to be the predecessors of the modern coffee table.
The first wooden tables, in Britain, specifically designed as and called coffee tables, were made during the late Victorian era.
There is a table designed by E.W. Godwin in 1868 and made in large numbers by William Watt and Collinson and Lock which is listed as a coffee table in 'Victorian Furniture' by R. W. Symonds & B. B. Whineray and also in 'The Country Life book of English Furniture' by Edward T. Joy. If this was indeed called a coffee table at the time, it may be one of the first examples of a coffee table made in Europe. Other sources, however, merely list it as a table so it is hard to be sure. What is notable about this table is that it is not a low table at all, but is actually about 27 inches high.

MARIE-THERESE SERVING COFFEE

E. W. Godwin's influence can be seen in the furniture of the Arts and Crafts Movement. and it is quoted in several books about furniture that there are known examples of coffee tables made by it's proponents although no specific examples are given. But as Arts and Crafts furniture generally favoured an emphasis on the vertical components, they would have been unlikely to design a long low coffee table so it is probable that this design feature of coffee tables is a later one. There are, for instance, Art Nouveau coffee tables which are low tables. This idea may have been introduced from the Ottoman Empire, based on the tables in use in tea gardens, but it is worth noting that countries such as India and Japan also had the tradition of eating and drinking at low level and consequently used low tables. Japanese influences on English furniture design were reflected in the Anglo-Japanese style which was hugely popular throughout the 1870's and 1880's and so Japan is much more likely to be the source for the idea of a long low table.
It would appear that there are no known examples of coffee tables made before the mid to late 19th century. The fondness of furniture manufacturers for revivalism, from Victorian times onwards, confuses this issue as one can find examples of coffee tables in styles that would suggest erroneously that they were made at an earlier date. A web search of antique dealers will reveal numerous examples of, for instance, Louis XVI style or Georgian style coffee tables but not authentic coffee tables from those periods.
Another relevent factor is that, in the 20th century when coffee tables became increasingly popular, it was not unknown for the legs of tables, even antique tables, to be shortened to make a coffee table. This could falsely create the idea that coffee tables had originated at the earlier date that the table had been made.
Documents from the 17th and 18th century do not yield any mention of coffee tables. A search of Samuel Pepys Diary, (1633-1703), for instance reveals hundreds of references to the coffee house and to tables of various kinds but no reference to coffee tables. Nor can one find an example of a coffee table design in the pattern books of Thomas Sheraton or George Hepplewhite.
There is an interesting picture painted in 1760 of Marie Antoinette, (1775-1793), in which her sister Marie-Therese is serving coffee to her husband in front of the fire (above right). It is interesting in that, although she is serving coffee, the table is a pillar and claw tripod table of the type which, often with the addition of a hinged top, would have been known as a tea table.
Joseph Aronson defines a coffee table in 1938 as, "Low wide table now used before a sofa or couch." He adds, "There is no historical precedent......( my underline), which again suggests that coffee tables were a late development in the history of furniture.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COFFEE TABLE

1. ART NOVEAU HINGE COFFEE TABLE

2. EILEEN GRAY DESIGNED COFFEE TABLE

3. ART DECO SMOKED GLASS COFFEE TABLE

4. MIES VAN DER ROHE DESIGNED COFFEE TABLE

The evolution of the coffee table from the late 19th century and throughout the 20th century was influenced by the following factors.

• New furniture became increasingly available and affordable to the populations of Europe and the U.S.A. due to mass production.
• Advances in industrial technology created new design possibilities for using existing materials such as glass for coffee table tops, and new materials were developed that could be used in coffee table production such as chrome plating, stainless steel, formica, and acrylic.
• Architects, interior designers, and sculptors from various design movements became involved in furniture design for the mass production market. As the century progressed they increasingly fostered the development of a modern style to counter the revivalist tendencies still entrenched among furniture manufacturers and the public at large since the 19th century.

Design Movements and Their Influence on Furniture Design (mid 19th century up to beginning of the 21st century)

During the Victorian era, as a result of the Industrial Revolution, the manufacture of wooden furniture was gradually becoming industrialised by the use of woodworking machines and was less often made by hand by skilled craftsmen.
This mass production meant that furniture became cheaper and more available to a larger number of people. However it suffered from a lack of a cogent design philosophy appropriate to its new machine age status.
Most Victorian furniture of the time was heavily embellished with applied ornamentation and relied for its design inspiration on the revival of styles from previous centuries.

The Arts and Crafts Movement.

The Arts and Crafts movement, of which William Morris is perhaps the best known adherent, was based on the writings of John Ruskin and came into being as a reaction to this mass production. It aimed to restore the role of the craftsman and to establish a style suitable for the 19th century. Although there was some disagreement in the movement as to whether machines should be excluded from the production process altogether, most Arts and Crafts furniture was individually designed and constructed although it is possible that machines may have been used for some of the more mundane tasks such as planing up the sawn timber. It is stated in several furniture books that, "there are known examples of Arts and Crafts coffee tables," but no details are given.

Art Nouveau.

Art Nouveau grew out of the Arts & Crafts movement and shared some of its aspirations, but did not have an antipathy to the machine production process.
A variety of individual styles emerged from the movement, one of  the most striking, in the field of furniture design, being that of the architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh. There is a table designed by Mackintosh that bears a striking resemblance to the coffee table designed by E. W. Godwin, but it is listed as "Table" rather than "Coffee Table".
The British coffee tables and furniture that resulted from this movement eschewed the fussy decoration of the Victorian period and also the use of revivalist styles, and had clean simple lines, often with a strong emphasis on the vertical components and decoration based on natural forms. French furniture tended to have more sinuous lines and be more elaborate. The movement came to an end during the 1st world war and was succeeded, after the war, by Art Deco.
An example of an Art Noveau coffee table is shown in the illustration number 1 in the column on the right.

Art Deco.

Art Deco drew its inspiration from contrasting sources including primitive art but also from modern forms such as aeroplanes. Its followers distanced themselves from the romanticism of Art Nouveau and saw themselves as more representative of the machine age, they used geometric curves, rather than organic curves based on the plant world, and straighter lines. As with Art Nouveau, some architects and interior designers also became involved with furniture design. Art Deco continued as a movement up until the outbreak of the Second World War. One of the newly available materials in the 30s in the U.S.A. although it didn't reach Britain until around 1947 was decorative Formica laminate. It was taken up by Art Deco designers, and there were coffee tables produced with formica tops. There were also many coffee tables designed using glass or glass and metal such as the smoked glass coffee table shown in illustration number 3.
Eileen Gray started as an artist and went on to become a furniture designer and then an architect, and was part of the Art Deco movement. She designed the table shown in illustration number 2 in 1927. Originally designed as a bed side table, it was later marketed as a coffee table.

The Bauhaus in Germany - 1919-1933.

In 1919 the German architect Walter Gropius took over the Weimer School of Arts & Crafts from the Belgium architect & furniture designer Henri Van de Velde, (one of the original founders of Art Noveau), and also the Weimer Academy of Fine Art and amalgamated them to form the Bauhaus.
The Bauhouse set out to produce a new generation of architects, designers, artists & craftsmen who were designing especially for the mass production market & attempting to achieve a style for the 'machine age' that rejected the idea of applied surface decoration and relied on the purity of the form.
Mies van der Rohe the architect took over as director of the Bauhaus in the 1930s. In 1929, he designed the glass topped coffee table on chromium plated steel bars shown in illustration 4. His motto was, "less is more," which epitomised the philosophy of the modernist movement.
The Bauhaus was closed under pressure from the Nazis in 1933 although it did open again subsequently in the U.S.A. for a brief period.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COFFEE TABLE

5. COFFEE TABLE DESIGNED BY ISAMU NOGUCHI

The influence on the design of coffee tables and other furniture by the design movements discussed on the previous page, along with the continuing development of industrial techniques lead to the production of coffee tables in materials other than wood, such as glass and metal, and also, in time, to designs using formica, chromium plating, and acrylic.

In the U.S.A, (partly because of a lack of historical baggage although there were also other reasons to do with the two world wars), the progress of modernist design and its acceptance by the public were more advanced than in Europe. The glass topped coffee table on two sculpted forms shown right for instance was designed in the U.S.A. by the sculptor Isamu Noguchi in 1944. To give another example, as mentioned previously, formica was in use in the U.S.A. in the thirties whilst not reaching Britain until 1947.

In Britain, between the wars, despite the existence of these modern designs and materials being available, mass produced coffee tables and other furniture were still primarily being produced in wood and in overly ornamented revivalist styles.

Influences on Coffee Table Design in Britain, World War 2 onwards.

Utility Furniture.

During the Second World War the shortage of timber lead the Board of trade to appoint a committee of designers to lay down simple standard designs for mass production of what was called utility furniture. This led to cleaner lined, simpler, functional furniture more fitted for mass production. The British Design Panel had drawn up designs for further ranges of utility furniture to be produced after the war but had to abandon their plans. Utility furniture was not popular with the public at large, being associated with the austerity of the war years. The large furniture manufacturers, mindful of what would sell, simply reverted to applying machine made applied ornamentation to their designs.

However, throughout the late 40s and early 50s, public attitudes started to change, the memories of the war years and rationing were beginning to recede, newly built housing, for the most part, had larger windows and rooms with lower ceilings than their Victorian counterparts creating a different type of space. A space in which the heavily ornamented, bulky, dark stained Victorian furniture began to look out of place, and so a desire for a more 'modern' type of furniture began to grow amongst consumers.

G Plan.

6. 1960'S G PLAN TEAK & GLASS COFFEE TABLE

It took until 1954 for this growing demand to be recognised by the major manufacturers. That year saw E. Gomme Ltd, a High Wickham furniture manufacturer, launch the G Plan range of furniture. This was to be affordable furniture designed in a modern style, and the first to be promoted directly to the customer with national advertising, and displayed in showrooms in simulated room layouts. It became hugely popular throughout the sixties and was imitated by other furniture manufacturers. G Plan was one of the first companies to popularise teak Scandinavian design. There were many G plan coffee tables designs often combining wood with other materials like the table pictured on the right.

1960,s onward.

In 1964 Terence Conran opened the first Habitat selling modern designs of furniture, he was one of the first retailers to introduce pine furniture to Britain and the proliferation of cheap pine coffee tables and other furniture has continued till this day. The introduction of pine coffee tables was symptomatic of a moving away generally from the taste for dark stained furniture like the oak and mahogany favoured by the Victorians to lighter woods like pine, maple, birch, and beech.
The decades since the 60s have seen the introduction of self assembly flat pack furniture sold by large chains of DIY stores. This furniture is most often composed of chipboard covered with either a wood veneer or melamine designed to look like wood grain rather than being solid wood and could be said to complete the transition from the permanent to the disposable. So whereas a piece of furniture might have been kept for a lifetime and passed on as an inheritance, the cheaper types of mass produced modern furniture are frequently discarded when moving house or even revamping a room.

The Present.

As for the present time, as is befitting in this century where consumer choice is King, there now exists a plethora of styles. Revivalism never disappeared during the last century, there was an Art Deco revivalist movement in the 70s for instance, and it seems that the conflict between revivalism and modernism will never be resolved. Just as some people will always prefer to live in a period property and some in a modern apartment, some consumers prefer traditional styles and some prefer modern styles of coffee tables.
Nowadays, you can buy a mass produced wooden coffee table in virtually any reproduction style you like or in a cleaner lined more contemporary design. Glass topped coffee tables in modernist designs are available as are coffee tables in a variety of materials from bamboo to wrought iron and, thanks to the Internet, obtainable from around the world.
Makers of fine furniture still exist and train apprentices in the craft of fine furniture design & construction, (e.g. The Edward Barnsley Workshops near Petersfield in Hampshire), There also exist many small workshops making custom country wooden coffee tables like The Coffee Table.co.uk.

Researched & written by Nick at TheCoffeeTable.co.uk - Copyright © TheCoffeeTable.co.uk - Telephone: 01420 474862