inception coffee table 1

An entire city turns on its head to support your coffee table books, mugs and remotes with this stunningly crafted wooden table by Cyprus-based designer Stelios Mousarris, reminiscent of the movie ‘Inception.’ In that 2010 film, a dream-within-a-dream concept enables hallucinatory scenes of urban settings bending and folding upon themselves seamlessly, defying all laws of gravity and logic.

Continue reading below
Our Featured Videos

In his 3D-printed table, Mousarris arranges streets, sidewalks and skyscrapers as they would appear in a real cityscape, with the plane they’re built upon curving upward until more than half of the neighborhood slice hanging upside-down. But in an interview with 3Ders, the designer says his inspiration really came from waves. “I wanted to merge two completely different things together: the ocean, something very organic and beautiful, with buildings, something very manmade.”

inception coffee table 3

Mousers designed the table using 3D modeling programs Rhino and Cinema4D. Bending a thin steel frame into the desired shape, he covered it with a layer of veneer plywood and then had a local 3D printer manufacture dozens of buildings for the city scene. This step alone took about a month to complete before the individual buildings could be glued to the base.

inception coffee table 2

“Defying the rules of gravity, the city bends ruthlessly into the wave. Restless, powerful, fearless, it raises its glorious skyline and becomes an urban legend. The piece illustrates an urban skyline scattered with skyscrapers that seemingly lifts into the air and finally folds back onto itself in a single, continuous curve. A series of meticulously carved buildings add a sense of realism to the otherwise surreal design object, which carefully balances on the lower section of the street.”

“This piece’s inverted landscape uses the overlapping surface as the tabletop made from wood, steel and 3D printing technology. This signature piece that gave birth to the Mousarris Wave City Family is featured in MAD (Musée des Arts Décoratifs) in Paris.”

Wave City table Inception inspired - black

The one-of-a-kind table is currently available for €5,000.