I love animal tables. Zoomorphism make furniture feel like part of the family rather than just a functional object. Like a pet dog it’s a kind of extension of who you are, only you don’t need to feed it or bring it out for walks. It also makes an excellent alternative to taxidermy which has been having a bit of a moment right now.

Zelouf and Bell constructed the leg of this table like a winding back bone. The ebonized cherry vertebrae are separated by polished aluminium discs. How it all stands up is their secret. This is one of many pieces that Zelouf and Bell have made in black, they even came out with a whole collection just in black recently. There is an old decorating trick, where you put a black object in a room and it makes all the other colours look clearer and cleaner. Black has already become popular in interiors and it looks like a trend that’s not likely to fade.

Erwan Boulloud studied at the reputed Ecole Boulle in Paris, and for the last ten years he has been producing limited series and one off pieces in his workshop in Pantin, to the north of the city. He is fascinated with movement and time, so his work appears to be an evolving situation that was frozen in a moment.

The Grande Graine table shows his skill as a cabinet maker and blacksmith in the one piece. The steel inclusions are constructed like clamps above and below the 12 edged tabletop, that terminate in sort of abstract grains, (grand graine means large seed in french).  The use of expressive geometry, with handcrafting in an industrial spirit, harks back to the art deco and the arts and crafts movements in the first part of the last century.

At 230cm by 174cm I’d unfortunately never fit it into my apartment, but I would very much love to see how the eventual owner chooses to set the table for a dinner, the steel bars and changing symmetry are an interesting terrain for the architecture of table-ware.

I found this transformed water-tank last-year, in the flea market in Saint Ouen, on the northern tip of Paris. It was discovered in a disused factory  in the North of France, had it’s steel side cut out, then it was up-turned to create this fantastic riveted table. Yours for a mere €3700. Now that may seem excessive for a “found” object, but when you compare it with vintage, designer tables and one-off pieces, or calculate up all the costs, it is kind of price that they can demand.

Old workshop tables are rich in anecdotal charm, but  unless you regularly trawl around closing down workshops, they are only in limited supply. To save you the treasure hunt, “used” industrial tables are now manufactured in their unpolished glory, richer in history  than they ever weren’t.
Angmon by Hanjel is 240cm x 100cm lacquered elm and metal table which is delivered demounted. It’s ends are heavily structured, making ot impossible to have someone sitting on the end and thus avoiding the crush of an over populated table.