Brutalist slate coffee table by Paul Kingma, (1931-2013), c. 1980

Dutch sculptor, mosaic artist, and designer Paul Kingma (1931-2013) is best known for his dramatic ceramic & stone coffee tables which have the sombre presence of the Brutalist design period. As early as the 1970s Kingma designed furniture incorporating natural elements of the earth in a Brutalist but beautiful way. By the 1980s, he was incorporating other materials in relief like fossils, pebbles, petrified wood, copper & brass, often collected during his travels. He was quoted as saying: "my stone tables resist the corruption of time and support the weight of life". This table is part of a series often referred to as the Kingma or Tableaux Series. Kingma sought to create tables that were first and foremost “self-contained” design objects. Born in The Hague, Kingma studied art in Arnhem before training at the Rijksakademie [State Academy of Fine Arts] in Amsterdam and the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Over the course of his career, he was commissioned to create several sculptures for public spaces in Dutch cities such as Utrecht, Eindhoven, & Amersfoort. It was in mosaic art, however, that Kingma established his reputation for collectible design. In addition to his furniture design, Kingma also taught sculpture & mosaic work at the Institute of Visual Arts in Amersfoort. Paul Kingma passed away at 81. His furniture pieces are sought after, with each one considered a unique piece art. Deeply committed to his artistic expression, Kingma famously said, “The next table is the most beautiful.”