Project name:  Terrace Coffee Table

Location: London, UK

Date completed: May 2018

Designer: Hemal Patel

Designed to be functional art, Terrace Coffee Table is a beautiful sculptural wooden coffee table inspired by the farming practices employed in the mountainous regions of the far East and South America.

The Terrace Table introduces a new aesthetic typology that offers a compelling and novel alternative to the usual, flat table-top designs.  Meandering across it’s centre is a beautifully crafted ‘mountain range’ with terracing along its length, the ‘terraces’ carved from the wood to form smooth sweeping contours that imbue a striking sculptural elegance.  On each side of the ridge are flat expanses that provide practical work or storage areas. The bases of the terraces are radiused, which adds a lovely tactile quality to the table and makes the experience of running your fingers along them strangely satisfying.

Designed to be functional art, light plays and interacts with its multi-faceted surfaces.  As you move around the table light and shadow advance and retreat along the smooth, winding terraces, accentuating the beauty of the carvings whilst imparting a dynamism to the piece.  This is a subtle, but powerful, feature that elevates the design to something quite special.

The Terrace Table is designed to be used in domestic settings as a focal point for the room, or in commercial environments as a stunning accent piece.  It is made in the UK, using a combination of computer aided machining and expert craftsmanship, the whole process is labour intensive and a tribute to automation and artisanship. The design works so well because it manages to achieve its goal of being functional art – it offers a practical solution that is suitable for everyday use, whilst being a beautiful, decorative object in its own right.