“Elephant trunk” table Adolf Loos F.O. Schmidt ca. 1899

The name “Elephant’s Trunk Table” is derived from the table legs, which resemble an elephant’s trunk. Adolf Loos designed this piece in collaboration with the renowned Viennese cabinetmaker Friedrich Otto Schmidt, who first presented it in 1900 at the Winter Exhibition of the Austrian Museum of Art and Industry (ÖMKI). Subsequently, the table was featured in many of Loos’s interior designs, such as the study of Dr. Hugo Haberfeld (see Das Interieur IV, 1903, p. 13).

The model is available with either eight legs or, in a smaller version, with six. There are also variations in the design of the tabletop: it can be made of glass, feature a central marble inlay, or, as in this example, be tiled. The gently curved edge of the tabletop is echoed in the arches beneath, and their graceful flow continues harmoniously into the table legs. The current version, with feet made of solid mahogany, represents a particularly refined variant.

Examples of this iconic design can be found today in museum collections, such as the permanent exhibition at the MAK in Vienna, where they document the groundbreaking modern ideas of architect and interior designer Adolf Loos.