Pair of Chrome and Smoked Glass Side Tables, circa 1970

The 1970s represented a pivotal decade in the history of European interior design, one in which the machine aesthetic championed by the Bauhaus and the International Style finally permeated the domestic interior at every level. Chrome — gleaming, reflective, industrial — became the decade’s signature material for furniture armatures, while smoked glass, with its mysterious depth and its ability to absorb and transform light, provided the perfect counterpart: at once transparent and opaque, modernist and intimate.

This fine pair of side tables, dating to circa 1970, exemplifies that aesthetic harmony at its most refined. Each table presents a chrome frame of clean architectural lines supporting a smoked glass top, the two materials working in dialogue to create a piece that is simultaneously substantial and visually light. The proportions — 56 centimetres wide by 36 deep and 42 centimetres tall — are ideally calibrated for use alongside a sofa or armchair, placing a surface precisely at the right height for a book, a glass, or a lamp.

Smoked glass carries a distinctive visual character that clear glass cannot replicate. Its dark tint introduces a note of shadow and depth that invites contemplation rather than mere transparency. In 1970s interiors, it was deployed as a sophisticated counterpoint to the high gloss of lacquered surfaces and the brilliance of chrome, creating a visual rhythm of light and dark that gave these spaces their characteristic charged atmosphere.

Presented in very good condition consistent with their age, with the chrome showing a warm lustre and the glass retaining its full integrity, this pair of side tables would integrate seamlessly into a period interior or lend a note of authentic seventies chic to a contemporary setting. Sold as a pair. Dimensions per table: 56 × 36 × 42 cm.