Noguchi Coffee Table: Why It's a Design Icon

The Noguchi coffee table is a design icon because it is a sculpture you can use: a freeform glass top resting on two curved wooden pieces that lock together without a single screw. The sculptor Isamu Noguchi designed it in 1944, it went into production in 1947, and more than 75 years later it still looks modern in almost any interior. Here is the story behind it and why it has lasted.

Key takeaways

• Isamu Noguchi, a Japanese-American sculptor, designed the table in 1944; it went into production in 1947.
• It grew out of a one-off table he made in 1939 for the founding president of the Museum of Modern Art.
• It has three parts: a glass top and two interlocking wooden pieces, with no screws.
• Its sculptural base and see-through top are what make it a timeless icon of modern design.
• Noguchi also designed the Cyclone table, a cylinder table lamp, paper lanterns and a rocking stool.

The Noguchi coffee table range at Mobelaris brings together reproductions of the table and two other Noguchi designs.

Isamu Noguchi: sculptor, artist and designer

Isamu Noguchi (1904 to 1988) was a Japanese-American artist, born in Los Angeles to the Japanese poet Yone Noguchi and the American writer Leonie Gilmour. He enrolled at Columbia University as a premedical student in New York, but evening sculpture classes at the Leonardo da Vinci Art School soon pulled him towards art, and he left to become a sculptor.

In 1927 a Guggenheim fellowship took him to Paris, where he worked in the studio of the sculptor Constantin Brancusi. He later studied brush drawing in China and pottery in Japan. Across his career he worked on sculpture, gardens, stage sets, lighting and furniture, and his organic forms had a lasting influence on design in the 1950s.

That background is the key to the coffee table. It was designed by a renowned sculptor, and it shows: the curved base is often compared to Brancusi's smooth, simplified forms.

The origins of the Noguchi coffee table

The 1939 Goodyear table

Noguchi's first table was a commission in 1939 from A. Conger Goodyear, the founding president of the Museum of Modern Art in New York: a one-off piece in rosewood and glass, more complex and sculptural than the later design.

A three-legged answer

Noguchi later wrote that he made a simpler version partly in reply to the designer T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings, who had told him that anybody could make a three-legged table. Noguchi called the result a tripod table, and he described the new design as the earlier one reduced to its basics.

From article to production

The design then reached the American designer George Nelson. According to design lore, Nelson used it to illustrate an article titled "How to Make a Table", and the table went into production in 1947 under the model name IN-50. It has been in production ever since, and it is also widely known as the Noguchi cocktail table, an older name for a low table placed in front of a sofa.

How the sculptural design works

The table has only three parts:

• A freeform glass top, rounded and slightly triangular, thick enough to feel substantial.
• Two curved wooden pieces that slot into each other at right angles to form the wooden base.
• No fixings. There are no screws or brackets; the weight of the glass keeps everything in place and gives the table its stability.

Because the glass top is clear, you see the whole base from above as well as from the side. The curves change as you walk around the table, so it never looks the same from two places in the room. Vintage examples turn up in walnut, birch and cherry, and the design has been made in several wood finishes over the decades.

Key Insight: The base is the design. The glass is there to protect it and let you see it, which is why the table works best with very little on top.

Why the Noguchi coffee table became a design icon

It is sculpture first

The base is organic and biomorphic: shapes taken from nature rather than geometry. It brought sculpture into everyday living rooms at a time when much furniture was boxy and heavy, and it is now widely seen as a classic piece of modernist furniture.

It looks light in any interior

The clear top keeps the table visually light, so it suits small rooms as well as large ones. It has moved easily from mid-century interiors to Scandinavian, Japandi, minimalist and contemporary rooms.

It has never dated

Few pieces from the 1940s look as current today. Elegant, simple and timeless, the table has been in production for more than 75 years, and examples are held in museum collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the V&A in London.

Other Noguchi designs worth knowing

• The Cyclone table (1957): a round table on a column of steel wire rising from a solid base. See the Noguchi Cyclone Table.
• The cylinder table lamp: a fabric shade on a slim three-legged wooden base. See the Cylinder Style Lamp.
• Paper lanterns: sculptural paper-and-bamboo light shades in many shapes, among his best-known designs.
• The rocking stool: a low stool on a curved base, a smaller sculptural piece from the 1950s.

Original or replica?

The licensed original carries provenance and resale value; a well-made replica gives you the design for everyday use at a much lower price. Our guide to whether a Noguchi coffee table replica is worth buying covers what to check in the glass and base.

How to style it

Give the table space, keep the surface to two or three objects, and pair it with low, simple seating so the base stays visible. Our guide on how to style a Noguchi table covers rugs, seating, lighting and colour.

Frequently asked questions

The bottom line

The Noguchi coffee table lasts because it is a sculpture that does a job: three parts, no screws, and a base that changes as you walk around it. If you want one in your own home, browse our Noguchi coffee table range, or read whether a replica is worth buying first.