Modernist Brass and Smoked Glass Coffee Table by Guy Lefèvre for Maison Jansen, circa 1970

This refined modernist coffee table, designed by Guy Lefèvre for the legendary Parisian decorating house Maison Jansen around 1970, exemplifies the bold evolution of French luxury furniture during the late twentieth century. Lefèvre was among the most gifted designers to emerge from the Jansen stable, responsible for translating the house’s classical heritage into a contemporary idiom of great clarity and sophistication.

The table is composed of a clean architectural brass frame with smoked glass shelves—a combination that defined the visual language of French luxury modernism in the 1970s. The bold rectilinear geometry of the frame, the warm lustre of the polished brass, and the cool depth of the smoked glass create a dialogue of materials thoroughly characteristic of Lefèvre’s best work. The generous proportions—120 cm wide and 80 cm deep—make this a commanding presence in any interior.

Guy Lefèvre worked for Maison Jansen from the late 1960s and created some of the most celebrated French interiors of the 1970s, including residences for European royalty and the international elite. His furniture, produced in small series by the Jansen workshops to the highest standards of craftsmanship, is today eagerly sought by collectors of French design as some of the most accomplished work of the period.