Tables Low & Coffee

Northern China, midwinter. The family gathers on the kang, the heated brick platform that serves as bed, sofa and dining room, and a low table is set between them.

Low and coffee tables take more shapes than any other furniture form. Chinese kang tables sit low enough to use cross-legged; elmwood low tables with stone or rattan inset tops keep the same proportions. From Ethiopia come Oromo coffee-sorting tables and pedestal tables associated with Jimma, once the kingdom of Abba Jifar. Bamileke and Bamenda tables from Cameroon, Naga pieces from northeast India, Tibetan and Mongolian painted tables, Japanese and Burmese low tables and Mauritanian wood all belong. Contemporary designs such as the Alta, Alhambra and Pickfair tables, slab-top cubes and heavy timber cocktail tables use stone, glass, iron and resin.

A kang table on a jute rug holds books and a bowl of fruit.

Low furniture. High standards.