In the event of an earthquake the general advise is to shelter under a table. However, many of the earthquake areas of the world have poor building construction, so chunks of building will be flying around and a table with people below it is easily crushed. Not surprising as it’s primary design purpose is not to resist tons of rubble.

But this table’s primary design purpose is just that, to resist the impact of a building’s collapse and to provide a safe tunnel that will save lives. This is achieved with a crumple zone, (the little orange rods in the corners),  that will give-way on impact when they absorb the energy of a ton of rubble, and deflect the rubble from the table zone.

There are two interesting design ideas here that could be adopted elsewhere. 1: Introducing crumple zones into other element of the built environment, perhaps certain corridor zones or bathrooms. 2: Redesigning simple objects that would need to function differently in an emergency situation. Maybe a table design that could be used as boat in a flood?

VIA designboom

David Amar  is an artist and designer who has a storyteller’s approach, with an interest in layering the moments of  a table. Here with the David table there is a central basket that hangs hidden below the middle, which is revealed as the table opens up. The fruit seems not just to be a weight that is carried on the table but as a tension force that’s pulling it together and balancing it out, especially when it is open and becomes an ensemble of four smaller interdependent one legged tables. Perhaps this is a deconstruction but I also see it as a poetic reconstruction.

As one drawer closes another drawer opens because of the air pressure forcing it out. It’s the internal system of the table that decides, not the person using it. You just can’t win. But the Corean designer Lee Sanghyeok did, he won second prize at Cologne 2012 with this table, where it’s your hands not your ear-drum, that feel the air.

Camping should be a civilised pursuit, and this bamboo, aluminium and steel tables certainly make it so. Made by the Japanese company snow peak these table have the hallmarks of contemporary Japanese design, a respect for the nature of materials, an apparent simplicity and attention to detail. There is a definite feel of luxury to the way they fit in their bag, open easily and click into place. There should be one in the trunk of ever four wheel drive.

This much blogged about desk, called homework, is often applauded for it’s monastic qualities. Certainly it is minimal and functional, but what fascinates me about this and the rest of Nika Zupanc’s work is the F word that is rarely mentioned around minimal and functional, It is “Feminine”.

The fabric folios fanning out, the little brass handle and crossing hinges all contribute to give it the air of a jewellery box. This €6000 bijou would certainly give doing homework a precious ritualised feel. I say blow the school fees on this baby to celebrate going back to school.

A few months ago I helped my father throw out a misshapen wooden garden table that had seen too much weather and too little protection. Too bulky to be moved for storage indoors it was in a hurry to rot back into the ecosystem, as if discontent with the form that humans gave it.  Had it been a metal garden table, it would allow itself a little corrosion at the edges to be polite to it’s surroundings, but it’s true to it’s nature it would hold it’s human given shape.

I instantly loved this Filaciel  folding and extending metal garden table at the “Maison et Objet” exhibition in January. It reminded me of the traditional tables in Parisian parks but, dare I say it, this one is finer. Beautifully finished in a range of powder coated matt colours, it is particularly resistant to weathering . Manufactured in Spain, there is no clumpy welding and the mechanism for extending the table is small, robust and fluid. The thin expanse of table-top stays flat as it  is rigidified by its drop-down edges. Long openings lighten it and prevent puddles forming.

This tables also has a brilliant patented gadget. It has legs, that upon pulling a small knob, simply fold away. The Filaciel table really makes me miss having a garden, so maybe for the next exhibition the Filaciel people could perhaps come up with a fold away garden for Parisians.