When I was in the NeC gallery looking at last week’s table, this mid-century classic desk caught my eye. “Mid century classic” a great buzz phrase for trendsters that are often not so young any-more, much like the classic pieces of design themselves. Mid Century Classic always refers to design when modernism had matured but was still fresh, if it were a term for literature or people, (I hope to be one myself once I’m out of my forties), Ian Flemming’s James Bond would certainly classify. The debonair international mid century man of style that he was, he would naturally have the latest Danish design for his desk.
This Bodil Kjaer desk designed in 1959 was used as agent 007′s desk in the films ”From Russia With Love” and “You Only Live Twice”, transforming it from a piece of furniture into a prestigious cult object, for which there was a waiting list. This particular made-to-measure example is larger than most, but the recipe is the same. Brazilian rosewood ( it exists in alternative precious woods), and chromed steel. The contribution that this object makes to the world of spy design is the lock that is on the far right of the table-top that secretly locks all the whole length of drawers at the same time… not such a secret anymore.
It is not surprising that the Swiss designer, Max Bill, who wrote a book in 1949 called “Mathematical thinking in the art of our times”, (La Pensée mathématique dans l’art de notre temps), would design a three legged table like this. Triangulation and curved surfaces are a fundamental part of his style. The Dreirundtisch coffee table is made of wood with a linoleum table-top and is currently available at the brilliantly named Kiss the Design gallery, in Lausanne. An amazing place for post war design.
