Table

About Table

A table is defined by its top and by how that top is held up: legs at the corners, a central pedestal, trestles or a cantilever. Romans made tables of marble and bronze, medieval households set boards on trestles, and 17th-century joiners built gateleg tables whose hinged leaves fold down against the wall. The 18th century multiplied special types for cards, tea, writing and dressing.

Modern makers treated the table as a study in structure and material. Edward Wormley set iridescent Tiffany glass tiles into tables for Dunbar, Wharton Esherick and Sam Maloof shaped legs that flow into the top, and Wendell Castle carved stacked laminates into organic forms. Charlotte Perriand favoured thick wooden tops, while Gaetano Pesce poured tables in coloured resin. On an old table, look at the rails beneath the top and at how the top is fixed, which should let solid wood move with the seasons.