Floating Tablecloth with a Ghostly Effect
Has there ever been a more perfect table for haunted houses? It’s a bit like that old magic trick where you pull the cloth out from under the tableware fast enough and everything remains standing … only in this case, you pull out the whole table instead!
Frozen in motion, Graft Architects designed this ultramodern table masquerading as a floating tablecloth with a beautiful blend of minimalism (a table with no legs or ornament) and, paradoxically, artistic flare (chaotic curves and rich ripples). The “Phantom” table is a beautiful piece of modern furniture with an unexpected source of inspiration: Marilyn Monroe’s rippling skirt.
“A table is always a special place. We spend many of our most important moments at or around it. We take care of basic needs such as satisfying our hunger and quenching our thirst, but also enjoy sublime experiences of fine dining and good wine. We make important decisions, we invent the future and celebrate being in the moment. But the essence, the really important aspect of a table, is that it brings us together. This is why the table has a special place in our home, and in our lives. In our design for the Phantom Table, we were interested in creating a table that embodies those collectively creative moments.”
“In 1955, when the most famous dress in the history of film reversed gravity with the aid of a floor ventilator, it simultaneously exposed the beautiful legs of Marilyn Monroe. The lightness, playfulness and humour of this sensual moment has since become an iconic image of the twentieth century, marking an important milestone in the gradual flow of life. We seek such magical moments in our work because they reaffirm our sense of being and what we are living for: it might be unrestrained laughter that frees us of conventions, or the birth of an idea that goes on to save the world. Talking, eating and drinking at the table shuts out the crazy world for a few magical moments spent together.”
“The Phantom Table designed by GRAFT captures a similar moment.”
In this case, what’s revealed isn’t the titillation of a beautiful woman’s body but rather… nothing at all. The tablecloth itself becomes like a skin that has taken on the structure of the object that’s supposed to be beneath it. Void gains mass in an all-in-one piece of composite fiberglass at an astonishing six millimeters thin, surprisingly able to support itself as well as dinnerware on demand.
