FLUTTER TABLE

Product, 2022 

The Flutter Table decompresses certain thinking around metal as a masculine and rigid material. Steel plate is manipulated like butter through a gesture of ‘folding’ to evoke a phenomenon in nature: a bird in flight. Inspired by the hazy illustrations in the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull and the simple pleasures of watching birds swoop through the sky, the form emphasizes the negative space just as much as the positive.

The actual fabrication process is, of course, not as simple as folding. It instead entails multiple tons of hydraulic pressure to render the piece into shape. This brute force ultimately sets the table in a state of lightness and ease, despite the literal weight of the material and use of a perilous technique.

The first piece of a limited edition run was designed for the Alcova 2022 exhibition during Milan Design Week. It features a smoked reflective finish on the underside, drawing attention to an otherwise overlooked aspect of furniture. Here, the user is forced to engage with an obscure, and sometimes truncated, mirror of its surroundings.

Spec Sheet