Drop Table

This transparent, sculptural object with its pure aesthetics and clear poetics, uses perspex as a means of representing and distorting space. It is accompanied by the Family Chair line: five different chairs that, with irony and a touch of surrealism, appear to be the daughters of the distortion produced by the lens table top. Drop Table is produced using a combination of complex technology and the craftsman skills typical of Living Divani’s industrial approach. The company has succeeded in finding a way to make this seemingly impossible design a reality.

“A transparent table. At first glance it looks like a slender, round table, but upon closer inspection it is clear that the lower part of the table top is curved like a lens. Almost as if it contained slowly dripping water. An invitation to view the drops of water forming in its transparency. The transparent top distorts the perception of the surrounding space, and alters the distance between objects, like a mirage. Several objects are arranged on its surface, and they blend to produce a harmonious, even image.” Junya Ishigami

Technical details

The top is created from a large sheet of cast GS Plexiglas® (2000x3000 mm, and 70 mm thick) using a 5-axis numerical control machine. The process takes over 30 hours, and involves two roughhewing and three finishing operations, followed by a further two smoothing procedures and then three polishing procedures (using abrasive paste, polishing wax and finishing polish), all performed by hand, and requiring another 20 hours’ work. The holes for the insertion of the legs into the table top are made in the CNC machine by interpolation. The legs are made using 3 cast GS Plexiglas® cylinders, machine-processed to shape the part that slots into the table top, after which they are smoothed and polished by hand. The three resulting legs are all different, due to the different angles at which they are inserted and positioned. They are all perfectly and seamlessly integrated into the overall volume of the table.

Drop Table has a diameter of 148 cm on a 70 mm sheet, and three 60 mm legs set at different angles.

A smaller version is also available, with a top measuring 48 cm in diameter.