‘Donau’ Dining Table by Ettore Sottsass & Marco Zanini for Leitner, Austria - 19

Designed in 1986 by Ettore Sottsass and Marco Zanini as part of the ‘Donau’ collection for Austrian furniture manufacturer Franz Leitner, this round dining table captures the experimental postmodern language that defined their work during the period. A broad circular top in richly figured maple burl veneer is enclosed by a contrasting black rim and supported by three cylindrical blue metal legs with black feet. The composition is deliberately direct, bringing together elementary geometry, saturated colour and the expressive natural pattern of the veneer.

The Donau collection emerged from Sottsass Associati in Milan at a moment when both designers were closely connected to the development of postmodern design. Sottsass had founded Memphis in 1981, with Zanini among its founding members, and the collection carries forward this interest in treating furniture as a composition of colour, surface and autonomous geometric elements. Rather than belonging to the Memphis production itself, Donau was developed separately for Franz Leitner. With a diameter of 130 cm, this example provides comfortable seating for approximately four to six people.