D.859.1

Overview

D.859.1 is a table by Gio Ponti, designed in 1959 for the auditorium of the Time&Life Building in New York and reissued by Molteni&C in 2018. The datasheet says it was designed primarily as a meeting table for up to ten people, over 3.60 m long, with legs that make a trapezoidal single-span bridge under a large tapered top.

Image source: Molteni&C — D.859.1 · © Molteni&C and the respective rights holders. Quoted to accompany INTEBEE's independent design commentary and research. · View official product page ↗ · Image use & copyright policy

Construction

Under the top, the legs and frame are solid ash. Inside the top is a core of spruce slats (Picea abies) with outer parts in high-density fibre panel, covered with sliced ash veneer. Each leg ends in a satin-finish brass foot.

Specifications

• D.859.1C, table: 360 cm long, up to 112 cm deep, 75 cm on the vertical dimension line (not labelled on the drawing), with a second vertical line of 71 cm labelled as the undertop height

The Time&Life auditorium

The datasheet says Ponti was enlisted in 1958 to design the auditorium of the Time&Life Building at 1271 Avenue of the Americas in New York, headquarters of Time Inc., and calls it his most prestigious project in the city. The table stands out among the auditorium furnishings for its size and for its simple, refined design.

Legs, top and ferrules

The sheet describes fine-membered legs forming a trapezoidal single-span bridge for a large tapered top that conveys aerodynamics; the page uses the words slender-legged trapezoidal base and aerodynamic form. It says the original was solid ash with brass ferrules (the page says bronze), now also offered in black stained ash, and that two smaller versions reproduce the proportions of the original.