Carafe Table

When designing Carafe, Sydney, Australia-based designer Charles Wilson reflected on how he lives and works. “In my inner city apartment, the dining table is the most utilised piece of furniture. It's the centre around which all activity revolves. During the week, it's my workstation, a quiet place from which I look out to the harbour, reflect on my designs and perfect their production. At the weekend, it's the gathering place for family and friends who drop in, kids in tow, everyone pitching in preparing food and mixing drinks.”

Compact apartments that are so much a part of urban living, require every space and surface to be flexible in function. To address this need, the Carafe Table was designed to merge the functions of the dining table and the work desk, and transform easily between working and dining modes. Discreet drawers address storage, giving you convenient places to put objects as varied as cables or cutlery, paperwork or linens. Devices are subtly connected to power sources through cut-outs in the drawer bases. Like the communal vessel from which the table takes its name, Carafe embodies the convivial spirit present when family and friends gather.

The Carafe Table is tall and lean, its sculptural legs support the shaped top resulting in an elegant but multifunctional dining or work table. Its broad, faceted main drawer slides out from both sides of the table, making it perfect for storing work supplies and cables or dining accoutrements. Cantilevered shelves at either end allow for additional storage. As Wilson notes, “A good dining table should be able to seamlessly segue from functional work top to elegant entertaining surface, and back again. It should look as good laden with documents or dinner as it does sparse or bare.” A variety of finishes are available to the cast legs and timber veneer options for the tops.

Technology has liberated modern professionals from the 9-to-5 grind, allowing them to work when and where they choose. Given this reality, designer Charles Wilson saw the need for a table that efficiently adapts to the demands of urban living. He says that while, “There is no one perfect dining table, a good design is like a snapshot of our needs. The Carafe Table addresses the complexity of our working and family lives, redefining the dining table as a utensil.”