Vintage H-259 coffee table by Jindřich Halabala for Up Závody, Czechoslovakia, 1950s

Coffee table designed by Jindřich Halabala in the 1950s. It is widely known as the 'spider' table because of its shape. Jindřich Halabala helped create a new mass-market approach to home design and furnishing in Czechoslovakia in the interwar period and after the Second World War. He believed furniture could and should be well-finished, fully functional, modular, mobile, and widely affordable. As chief designer of the large Brno-based furniture producer United Arts and Crafts Manufacture (UP), he significantly influenced its manufacturing programme from the 1930s onwards, pioneering the industrial manufacture of furniture in Czechoslovakia. The top is made of oak, and the legs are made from beech wood. The surface has been cleaned from the old finish, painted with oak stain, and finished with semi-matt varnish.