Rare Paul T. Frankl Model '5025' Coffee Table in Cork

Paul T. Frankl for Johnson Furniture Company, coffee table '5025', varnished cork, United States, 1950s

Designed by Paul Frankl, this very rare coffee table features a striking biomorphic form, crafted entirely from cork. Its cloud shaped silhouette and rich golden tone create a warm, organic presence. Both sculptural and functional, the piece reflects Frankl’s innovative use of material and modernist vision.


Paul T. Frankl (1886–1958) was born in Vienna in 1886 and completed his architectural studies at the prestigious Vienna Polytechnic University. After working in the office of Otto Salvisberg, he moved to New York City as part of a wave of Central European design luminaries drawn by the energy and optimism of the American scene.

Although Frankl began his career in the United States as an architect, it was there that he increasingly focused on furniture design. In the 1920s, he created his celebrated Skyscraper Furniture, inspired by the New York cityscape – a style that became one of the most recognizable expressions of American modernism. From 1949 onward, Frankl designed for the Johnson Furniture Company, where his work was characterized, among other innovations, by freeform cork tables in a variety of shapes and sizes. Overall, Frankl’s designs range from streamlined Art Deco forms to free-form, organic shapes.