Coffee Table - A Brief History of the Coffee Table
A coffee table which is also commonly known as a cocktail table is a low table which is usually put in front or on the side of a sofa to support magazines, drinks, books etc. Coffee tables can usually be found in a living room or sitting room and are made in many different styles and prices on these tables will vary. Some coffee tables will even incorporate cabinets for convenient storage.
The first coffee tables were in Europe, specifically designed and called coffee tables. They appear to have been made in Britain around the Victorian era. Before these coffee tables appeared in Europe, the tables that they commonly used were occasional tables, end tables, centre tables and tea tables. These tables were used as a companion with the high backed settle chair. Around 1780 the high backed settle was slowly being replaced by the low backed sofa. This led to the development of sofa tables which stood against the back of the sofa and could be used by anyone wanting to place down a cup or book.
In 1868 E.W. Goodwin designed and William Watt and Collinson and Lock produced in mass quantities a coffee table. This may actually be one of the earliest made coffee tables in Europe. Some sources only list this as a "table" so this cannot be stated categorically. This first table was far from a low table as it stood twenty-seven inches high.
As time past coffee tables were being designed as low tables which stemmed from the period of the Ottoman Empire, based on tables that were used in tea gardens. Considering that the Anglo-Japanese style was popular in Britain in the 1870-1880's and low tables were popular in Japan, it would seem an equally likely source for the idea of a low, long table.
Starting from the late 19th century and moving forward, coffee tables were made in the earlier styles due to the popularity of revivalism. It would be more than possible to find a Louis XVI style or a Georgian style coffee table but there is really no evidence that a table was actually made to be a coffee table before this time. Joseph Aronson’s writing in 1938 defines a coffee table as a, "Low wide table now used before a sofa or couch. There is no historical precedent...," this suggests that coffee tables were late in the development of furniture.