Free Form Occasional Table

Described in the 1950s as “one of the leading designers of our day,” Vladimir Kagan found inspiration in both modern and traditional forms, from avant-garde European paintings to Russian folk art. For this table, Kagan’s muse was Constantin Brancusi’s sculpture Bird in Space, whose subtle, tapering curves inspired the spectacular base, a design that Kagan described as one of his favorites. While the pointed thrust of the table evokes the aerodynamics of the nascent space age, the tabletop owes a debt to the undulating, biomorphic shapes of Surrealism. Despite these cutting-edge associations, the table also represents a departure from the machine aesthetic of earlier decades and a return to handcrafting: with his business partner, Hugo Dreyfuss, Kagan designed all his furnishings, which were custom-made under the supervision of his father, Illi, a trained cabinetmaker.