Josef Frank Side Tables
Austrian architect and furniture and fabric designer Josef Frank was a leading voice for a gentle, humane modernism. His advocacy of warm, comfortable, eclectically styled environments was highly influential in his adopted country of Sweden, and it’s now widely regarded as a harbinger of the backlash against doctrinaire modernism and the embrace of the homespun that occurred in the late 1960s.
The son of a successful Viennese textile manufacturer, Frank studied architecture at Vienna University of Technology, graduating in 1910. From the first years of his practice, he marched counter to the orderly, symmetrical architectural layouts and decors prescribed by contemporaries such as Adolf Loos.
Frank drafted rooms of varying shapes and called for flexible interior-design arrangements. His furniture pieces are light and easy to move — and his chairs are always made of wood, most often with lushly curved steam-bent arms and slatted backs. Frank openly loathed the tubular steel furnishings and “machine for living” aesthetic promoted by Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and other Bauhaus principals. “The home must not be a mere efficient machine,” Frank once said. “It must offer comfort, rest and coziness…. There are no puritan principles in good interior decoration.”
Frank — who was Jewish — sensed the dire implications of the rise of Nazism in Germany and Austria, and in 1933 he moved to Stockholm with his Swedish wife, Anna. He became the design chief for the furnishings maker Svenskt Tenn and found a perfect match culturally for his brand of simple, relaxed and bright creations. Like many modernists — notably Charles and Ray Eames and Alexander Girard — Frank had a deep love of folk art, which influenced his designs for a wide array of colorful, richly patterned upholstery fabrics, many based on the classic “Tree of Life” motif.
In all his designs, Frank took inspiration from a broad variety of sources. In his furniture, one can discern traces of Asian patterns, Rococo, Italian Renaissance, Scandinavian handicrafts and even Chippendale pieces. As such, the work of Frank — the friendly modernist — is at home in any type of décor.
Find vintage Josef Frank pillows, armchairs, floor lamps and other furniture on 1stDibs.
1920s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Walnut
Mid-20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Josef Frank Side Tables
Beech
Mid-20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Josef Frank Side Tables
Maple
1920s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Beech, Walnut
1950s Swedish Scandinavian Modern Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Marble
Mid-20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Josef Frank Side Tables
Mahogany
Mid-20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Josef Frank Side Tables
Brass
1920s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Cherry, Poplar, Walnut
1920s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Nutwood
1950s Swedish Scandinavian Modern Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Mahogany
1920s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Beech, Walnut
1920s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Walnut, Spruce
20th Century Swedish Scandinavian Modern Josef Frank Side Tables
Mahogany
1920s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Glass, Walnut
1920s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Wood
1950s Swedish Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Stone
1930s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Beech, Walnut
20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Josef Frank Side Tables
Brass
1920s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Beech, Spruce, Walnut
1950s Swedish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Brass
1920s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Beech, Walnut, Spruce
1950s Swedish Scandinavian Modern Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Mahogany
1920s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Walnut, Spruce
1930s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Walnut, Spruce
1920s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Walnut
Mid-20th Century Swedish Scandinavian Modern Josef Frank Side Tables
Marble
1930s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Walnut
Mid-20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Josef Frank Side Tables
Marble
1950s Swedish Scandinavian Modern Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Mahogany
1950s Swedish Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Stone
1940s French Art Deco Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Macassar, Mahogany, Maple, Walnut
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Plastic
Mid-20th Century Italian Art Deco Josef Frank Side Tables
Burl
1940s Swedish Scandinavian Modern Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Mahogany, Amboyna
1940s French Art Deco Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Walnut
1750s Italian Louis XV Antique Josef Frank Side Tables
Walnut
Early 1900s Austrian Vienna Secession Antique Josef Frank Side Tables
Bentwood
1930s Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Glass, Pine
Early 20th Century Austrian Art Nouveau Josef Frank Side Tables
Beech
20th Century Spanish Mid-Century Modern Josef Frank Side Tables
Alabaster, Brass
1950s Swedish Scandinavian Modern Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Brass
Mid-20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Josef Frank Side Tables
Mahogany
1920s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Walnut, Spruce
Mid-20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Josef Frank Side Tables
Mahogany
Mid-20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Josef Frank Side Tables
Brass
Mid-20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Josef Frank Side Tables
Mahogany
1950s Swedish Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Brass
1930s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Fabric, Walnut, Spruce
Mid-20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Josef Frank Side Tables
Cherry
1950s Swedish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Brass
1920s Austrian Art Deco Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Beech, Walnut, Spruce
1970s Swedish Scandinavian Modern Vintage Josef Frank Side Tables
Metal