EE Meyer for Binnehuis Coffee Table in Solid Imbuia, South Africa, c.1960s
The form is precisely what it needs to be and nothing more: a broad, warm top on four slender tapered legs with original brass-capped feet. Look closer and the judgement shows — the apron is shaped to a soft arch beneath the top edge. It's that restraint, combined with the depth and figure of the imbuia, that makes a piece like this endure.
Imbuia is a hardwood of extraordinary warmth and grain character, long central to South African cabinetmaking. The brass-capped feet are a hallmark detail — small, deliberate, and enough to lift the design from furniture into considered object.
EE Meyer, directed by Gerhardt Meyer from 1966, is South Africa's most collectible mid-century furniture maker: informed by the Danish modernists, but working in a language entirely its own.
EE Meyer for Binnehuis
A true treasure that encapsulates the essence of South Africa's most sought-after mid-century furniture manufacturer. With a legacy rooted in timeless craftsmanship and iconic design, EE Meyer creations have become highly sought after. Owning an EE Meyer piece means not only acquiring a beautiful work of art but also preserving a valuable piece of South African design history.
EE Meyer was directed by Gerhardt Meyer from 1966, Meyer was the South African master of understated mid-century elegance, and his designs became synonymous with a distinctly South African interpretation of modernist furniture: sober, clean, and generous in their use of solid imbuia.
Imbuia — is a hardwood native to the forests of southern Brazil and historically used extensively in South African cabinetmaking. Deeply figured, warm in tone, and extraordinarily durable, it is the material that defines the EE Meyer aesthetic.
The Binnehuis furniture stores were located in Cape Town, Stellenbosch Somerset-West, Newlands, Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg and were owned by a Dutch businessman and his wife, Mr and Mrs van Ewijck, who moved between South Africa and the Netherlands. It seems they were most prolific during the 1960s.
EE Meyer for Binnehuis pieces are among the most collectible examples of South African mid-century design.
Imbuia is classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Vintage pieces from before 1992 are legally permitted for sale.
