The Noguchi table is a piece of
modernist
Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
furniture first produced in the mid-20th century. Introduced by
Herman Miller
MillerKnoll, Inc., doing business as Herman Miller, is an American company that produces office furniture, equipment, and home furnishings. Its best known designs include the Aeron chair, Noguchi table, Marshmallow sofa, Mirra chair, and t ...
in 1947, it was designed in the United States by Japanese American artist and industrial designer
Isamu Noguchi
was an American artist, furniture designer and Landscape architecture, landscape architect whose career spanned six decades from the 1920s. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Grah ...
. The Noguchi table comprises a wooden base composed of two identical curved wood pieces, and a heavy plate glass top.
Construction
The base was originally produced in
walnut
A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an i ...
,
birch
A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...
, and
cherry
A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit).
Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet '' Prunus avium'' and the sour '' Prunus cerasus''. The na ...
.
It was later offered 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 discontinued after 1954.
As of 2016, the table is available in an ebonized finish, walnut, white ash and natural cherry.
The top was originally issued in heavy plate glass. In 1965, the thickness of the top was reduced to , and its base height was raised, increasing the table's total height from to .
Since the late 1980s, indexing pins have been installed on the pivot rod with matching slots milled into the legs to ensure that the two leg elements are set up at a 52-degree angle for maximum aesthetic appeal and optimal stability.
Noguchi_Table_Assembly_Instructions.pdf
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Further reading
*
References
External links
The Herman Miller Consortium Collection
at Wayne State University
Wayne State University (WSU) is a public university, public research university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 375 programs. It is Michigan's third-l ...
Library is a historic, digital, product collection originally accumulated as part of Herman Miller's corporate archives in a digitized, searchable format and includes images of Noguchi tables on display at various art museums.
{{Herman Miller
1947 introductions
Tables (furniture)
History of furniture
Modernist works
Individual models of furniture