Table Talk

Whether dining, end, coffee or console, too often we opt for the ordinary when it comes to choosing tables. Big box furniture retailers even offer coffee and end table package deals: three tables, all the same, boring and bland. Avoid the dull. Select a table worth talking about. 

Add a touch of whimsy with a Rubik's Cube-inspired table designed by Parvez Taj. The acrylic table is a 14-inch cube and suitable for indoors or outdoors. It features a socket for a 60-watt bulb, which lights up the multi-colored table.  Picture this table next to a large blue sectional dotted with pillows in the various cube colors. 

James Dewulf, the concrete artist who brought you the , created an optical illusion with his leaning coffee table. This cantilevered table is 56 inches long, 22 inches wide, and 18 inches tall. Available in natural tone, light grey and charcoal grey, the leaning table is made of reinforced concrete as strong as 9 inches of ordinary concrete. Although it appears unsupported, the top can hold up to 55 pounds. It could serve as a dynamic coffee table in front of a bold colored leather sofa.

Award-winning designer Peter Harrison created a dinette table that is a modern mix of wood, metal, glass and concrete. A work of art, this table is 29½ inches tall and 48 inches in diameter. The middle contains a ring of stainless steel rods and a perimeter created by the glass. Although it seats four, this table would look stunning in a grand foyer.

Another Harrison table is the Divergence Table. Harrison used aluminum corner brackets to join the legs to the top of the table. The standard Divergence Table is 60 inches wide, 12 inches deep and 36 inches tall, but custom sizes are available. Harrison uses cables manufactured for the rigging of sailboats as an elegant design element. The top is made of black sapele hardwood. This table reminds me of the breathtaking Verrazano-Narrows bridge that connects Staten Island to Brooklyn. For that reason alone I would float this table in a large room and only put chairs around it when dining.  

One of the more interesting offerings in Room and Board’s 2012 collection is the Chilton table, in which two solid slabs of wood are sanded and finished with edges unfinished. The result is a modern rustic look. Love this table for a kitchen nook.