Nicole Franzen
You ve definitely seen it, whether in the living room of your coolest friend, an actual museum, on your own dream coffee table Pinterest board or perhaps it s currently sitting in your shopping cart but you re researching whether it s the real deal before you click buy. And you d be wise to do so because there are plenty of replicas out there (more on that in a minute!). The icon in question: The Noguchi Table.
Its clear glass top perched atop a sculptural wood base make it an enviable addition to interiors ranging from minimal to midcentury modern, a flexibility that has lent it increased visibility in the age of social media. With the uptick in mass production and copycats that are unfortunate effects of the internet era, though, the classic table (or, more often, knockoffs of it) is often encountered in the digital wild without much context about original the creator. But a true understanding of the piece requires a look at the artist behind it, Isamu Noguchi