Embassy Coffee Table
Jan Bočan
1970s

Description:

A large, laminated wood coffee table designed by Czech architect Jan Bočan for the Czechoslovak Embassy in Stockholm. 

Designed in 1970 by Jan Bočan and completed in 1972, the Czechoslovakian Embassy in Stockholm is a tour de force of Czech Brutalism. Completed during his time at architectural practice Beta, this project follows two other landmark projects undertaken by Bočan during the mid-late 1960s:

The Czechoslovak Embassy in London, 1965

The Intercontinental Hotel Praha, 1968 

The Stockholm Embassy shares much of the salient characteristics of these earlier projects. For example, an enlarged sense of scale, from the building itself down to the furniture. The bentwood designs, created for the Embassy in the former Thonet factories in the Czech Republic (renamed TON), have a distinct architectural quality, echoing the strict geometry and overall essence of the building itself. 

This harmony between the building and its furniture wasn't accidental. Like the London Embassy the the Hotel Praha, the Czechoslovak Embassy was conceived in its entirety by Bočan as a "Gesamtkunstwerk" or "total work of art". Softened cubic proportions characterised the furniture of the Czechoslovak Embassy, allowing it to slot effortlessly into monumental interiors of concrete and glass which echoed the same lines. 

White variants of this walnut coffee table could be seen in one of the large, intermediary spaces of the embassy. Neatly flanked by tall, metal columns, the cubic proportions of these bentwood tables mapped the concrete ceiling above, a brilliantly Brutalist reimagining of a coffered ceiling, with its rounded cubic recesses. 

A beautifully functional piece of design history, this low walnut table is has compartments on two sides, ideal for books, newspapers, and journals. The walnut veneer has an exceptional sheen and depth which will only richen over the years to come. 

Specifications:

Height: 40 cm

Width: 77 cm

Depth: 77 cm

Materials: Laminated wood with walnut veneer. 

Design period: Early 1970s