Cool in 1929 and enduring to this day
Recognition may have come later than it should to Eileen Gray, but her status today as one of the 20th century’s great furniture designers owes a lot to her iconic glass coffee table. This quietly ingenious piece with its adjustable side-table and minimalist symmetry is also familiar enough that you might hardly notice it. That is almost the definition of timelessness (and if you agree you can vote for it to be part of the Timeless 50).
It was designed in 1926 for a sister who liked breakfast in bed (a perfect motivation, no?). Dubbed the E-1027 table after the house Gray designed with her friend and collaborator Jean Badovici, it also suggests something of the craving for anonymity that would later transform her into a near-recluse. The name is code: E is for Eileen, 10 for Jean with J the 10th letter in the alphabet, 2 for Badovici (same reason) and 7 the G for Gray.
Ironically enough, it would also help push Eileen Gray back into the public eye. After a gushing 1968 article on Gray in Domus magazine reignited interest in her work, the table was one of several pieces that went back into production
Thankfully for her admirers, Eileeen Gray finally seems to have cracked the code for success, so much so that one of her chairs sold recently for a whopping $28m. Now that’s what you call a comeback.
