Stretching Colored Lines Make for a Surreal Coffee Table

This table looks like a simple digital drawing – or maybe a trippy Pink Floyd laser show – but in fact it is a real physical object. It is the Prism table from designer Maurie Novak in Melbourne, Australia.


The colored elastic lines are all attached at their beginning point to a single stainless steel bar of the table’s frame. From there, they stretch out in different directions to create mind-bending shapes and patterns.


Like a prism that refracts light and throws rainbow-like images onto surfaces around it, the Prism table puts on a dazzling show. The colors seem to merge at some points and diverge at others, creating an engrossing picture that changes depending on your vantage point.

The stainless steel frame is topped with glass, making it possible to stare down into the colorful strands even when you’re resting your drink on the table. This piece is just one of an emerging line of similar spatial experiments from Maurie Novak.