MR Table

Overview

The MR Table (model 259TS) is a glass-topped side table with a crisscross tubular steel base. Knoll dates the design to ca. 1927 and has manufactured it since 1977; the frame comes in polished chrome or in three ultra-matte powder-coated colours.

Construction

• Top of half-inch-thick plate glass
• Frame of tubular and rectangular stainless steel welded into a single piece, in classic chrome or ultra-matte powder coat
• Nylon floor glides; the table comes fully assembled

Specifications

• W 28½" × D 28½" × H 20.8" (724 × 724 × 528 mm); the shop lists a height of 20⅞ in and a leg height of 15⅞ in
• Weight 37 lb

From the Tugendhat house to Knoll

Knoll's design-plan page dates the MR Table to about 1927 and says four examples of the side table were included in the famous Tugendhat house. The page adds that Knoll has manufactured the design since 1977.

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

Form as a result

The product sheet quotes Mies: “Form is not the aim of our work,” he wrote, and “It is the result.” It pairs that philosophy with his less-is-more approach to architecture and says it produced an iconic collection of steel furniture, of which the MR Table, designed in 1927, is one. Knoll's shop says the table shows how Mies could turn the simplest configurations of lines into forms of grace and beauty.