Coffee tables first appeared in Europe particularly in Britain during the late Victorian time period. There are no known examples of coffee tables created before the mid to late 19th century. Before the 18th century, Europeans used end tables, occasional tables, and tea tables because they used high backed chairs called settles. By 1780, low back sofas started to replace settles and this led to sofa tables being developed to be placed behind sofas. Coffee tables were originally designed as low tables and the idea may have come from the Ottoman Empire because low tables were used in tea gardens.

Coffee tables became increasingly popular in the 20th century and were frequently used in living and family rooms. In the United States the demand and production of coffee tables rapidly increased in the early 20th century. In 1920, J. Stuart Foote, former president of Imperial Furniture Company, claimed to have invented the modern day coffee table. He stated that he cut down the legs of a taller table and came up with the idea that is would be great to put in front of the sofa to set down a cup of coffee. The low rectangular tables were marketed to the average family and most people had them in their homes. People used them to place their beverages, food, books, and magazines. Due to the Prohibition in the 1930s, coffee tables were often called cocktail tables. Today, the names are used interchangeably. The coffee table has evolved over time and a variety of materials are used such as hardwood, glass top and chrome plated legs, plastics, metal, and mirrors. The shape and style has evolved over time as well. Today there are many styles and functions of coffee tables, some are still basic and some even have drawers for storage.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 24th, 2009 at 3:05 am and is filed under Furniture Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.