Plectrum Table

Paul T. Frankl (1886-1958) designed the Plectrum Table for the Michigan-based Johnson Furniture Company in the late 1940s. The low, cloud-shaped table was marketed as a “cocktail table,” a modernized version of the more classic coffee table. Frankl was one of the most recognized American furniture designers at the time, and good friends with many of the country's modernists such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Raymond Hood. The biomorphic shape of the Plectrum coffee table was likely inspired by Alvar Aalto, Kaare Klint and other Scandinavian designers, but Frankl added his own eccentric ideas, including a cork top and outward-facing legs, which not only gave the table better stability but also broke with conventional geometry. The result is one of the modernist icons of the mid-century, a design object that is informal and practical, and completely in tune with the times. The Plectrum Table is undoubtedly one of Paul T. Frankl's masterpieces, an enduring and visually commanding design.  The new production of the table is according to the original design and has been authorized by Paul T. Frankl's heirs.