John Tribble not only knows his period styles, able to instantly identify every iteration of Louis XIV, XV, and XVI, but he also knows how to read the antiques market. After nearly 30 years buying antiques and restoring them, all the while having his workshop build new custom furniture, he has good news to report. “I would say that antiques died around 2015, but I now see a resurgence, a big resurgence, a rebirth. There’s a lot more interest in what I call ‘brown wood furniture,’ especially pieces from the 18th and 19th centuries.”

While Tribble admires antiques of all eras, he has a decided penchant for anything Louis, with Louis XVI his favorite, defined by its pared-down, linear, restrained, elegant forms. And in his new pursuit of bedside tables, when Tribble makes his annual buying trip to France, he scouts the flea markets and fairs for that particular piece of furniture in that particular style. “Every house needs a bunch of bedside tables,” he emphasizes, adding that the name could just as easily be “chairside, tableside, sofaside, since they’re so versatile and useful at home.”

Typically, on every trip abroad, he’ll ship over some 30 tables and up to 70, or so, commodes. For the latter, Tribble has become known for his ability to transform centuries-old commodes, with their chests of drawers and decorative hardware, into sink basins. His designs are so convincing that, upon first glance at these transformed pieces, one could easily mistake them for their original purpose. However, a look inside reveals their new roles as sinks.

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WRITTEN BY DAVID MASELLO
PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRIS BURDEN

This story appeared in the Spring 2026 issue of MILIEU.