The glass table

Dirk Schrijvers

©June 2013

Introduction
Glass tables are an integral part of the everyday environment. They often consist of a glass top with a support in steel or another material. However, a growing number of designs are made entirely of glass. The finish of the top can be transparent, curved, frosted or tinted. Annealed and tempered glass are commonly used with the latter being harder, sturdier and less dangerous when it shatters or breaks than ordinary glass. A glass table is easily cleaned but there is the risk of damage or fracture and it should be used carefully in the presence of children or other exposures.

History of glass used in tables
The use of glass as a material for tabletops dates from the 1780s and was introduced by the empress Catherine the Great of Russia. She ordered huge glass fixtures and glass-topped tables from her Russian Imperial Glass Works for the Grand Palace at Tsarskoye Selo outside St. Petersburg. At the same time, the Scottish-born architect Charles Cameron designed a dressing room for her with walls, ceiling, columns and doors all in glass. All the furniture was made with slabs of blue glass (Figure 1).
From that period on, royals from all over the world used glass tables as prestigious objects in their courts.
In the 19th century, the large French glass manufacturers such as Baccarat, founded in 1764, Lalique or L'Escalier de Cristal created glass-topped furniture for an exclusive clientele. They were producing cut glass furniture that was very elaborate but entirely colourless. The accession of Louis XVIII in 1814 popularized luxury wares and resulted in an increase in both the quantity and quality of French-produced glass items.
Follett & Clarkson Osler (1807-1975) was a glass company founded in Birmingham, England, and created glass furniture after mastering the necessary technical knowledge.
They sold massive glass chandeliers and furniture all over the world, mainly focusing on India. After the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, Osler made glass fountains, lighting fixtures and glass furniture including tables for the Indian luxury market. Other British companies such as Defries & Sons and the Coalbourne Hill Glass Works used cut-glass pieces with non-figurative geometric patterns to be released for the Islamic market.
In the late 1950s, Alastair Pilkington introduced the float glass production method which led to an increase of flat glass production by 90% and made mass production of glass tabletops possible.

Glass table design in the 20th-21st century
Due to its character of modernity, glass has been used in the design of “modern furniture”. Some trends incorporated glass to give the image of “new”.

The Modernism movement started at the end of the 19th century and was further developed during the first half of the 20th century. It rejected ornamental motives of the old world adopting technological progress and its aesthetics, and emphasizing pure geometric shapes creating “good design” which fitted to its purpose and embraced abstraction. The use of glass in table design was an outflow of this philosophy. Glass made it possible to focus on the simplicity of the design and all over the world this material was used not only in building but also in furniture design. Several important designers used glass in their creations.

Le Corbusier was one of the leading architects of the first part of the 20th century. He transformed architecture with a new construction method ‘Plan Libre’. Besides his architectural work, he created some iconic furniture pieces such as the ‘Chaise Longue’ (LC4) and the ‘Barcelona Chair’. Less well-known is that he also designed some glass top tables, in which the use of systemized tubular steel refers to his architectural concepts. In 1929 at the Salon d'Automne in Paris, he presented for the first time tables based on a mathematically refined structure of steel and glass. Table LC10 consists of a clear sheet of glass that is lined with a white or black line and supported by steel legs. The simple design was timeless and the table is still being produced (Figure 2).

Eileen Gray, who pioneered the modern movement in architecture, made in 1927 the design for a table with a glass top and chrome-plated steel base, the E1027 Table (Figure 3). The secret code-name likewise comes from her: E is for Eileen, 10 for Jean (J is the 10th letter of the alphabet), 2 for B(adovici) and 7 for G(ray). It has an open base which allowed to pull the table close, and an adjustable top. Two years later the Double X, a large table with an x-shaped support of steel tubing was developed, in which the glass top makes the steel construction of the frame visible (Figure 4).
From the fifties on, many architects and designers were using glass to design their tables. By the transparency of the top, the support of the table could be developed as a decorative, eye-catching item and this was used by the designer to add an extra touch to the design (e.g. Arabesque by Carlo Mollino,1949) (Figure 5). Also during this period, tables made entirely of glass were developed thanks to industrial improvement in relation to hardened glass.
In the 60s, the British pop art artist Allen Jones used a glass sheet to create his Girl Table series, that added a lot of controversy but also attention to glass tables. See set of furniture > www.christies.com/lotfinder/sculptures-statues-figures/allen-jones-hatstand-table-and-chair-hatstand-5652400-details.aspx and http://www.weareprivate.net/blog/?p=19079.
Other artists are integrating glass topping in their art work such as Jan Fabre, who uses the table top to add messages which are part of the work (Figure 6).

Contemporary glass tables
Almost all furniture producing companies (e.g. Fritz Hansen, Leolux, B&B Italia, Cassina, Driade, Knoll, POLTRONA FRAU, VITRA, Actiu, Arper, Artek) have a glass table in their catalogue. Some have been designed by company-related designers but some designs are made by world famous designers or architects. When they are designing tables, their imprint is inherent to the design: the table designed by Ross Lovegrove for Knoll reflects his inspiration by the logic and beauty of nature combining technology, materials science and intelligent organic form, creating the new aesthetic expression for the 21st century (Figure 7) while the tables that Foster Associates designed for Tecno S.p.A. (Figure 9) or by Ateliers Jean Nouvel for Estel (Figure 10) are reflecting their architectural oeuvre.

Conclusion
Glass is a valuable addition to the design of tables. It has been used since the 18th century but only in recent times it has conquered its place in daily life. New designs are constantly added to the already existing glass top tables and each generation adds its own philosophy to this consumer article.