slab-and-pillar table inspiration from casa malaparte

Recently in a wordless post called simply Casa Malaparte, Atelier featured some elegant, elemental tables made by placing a flat surface-on-pillars-or-stones; they reminded us of our favorite Le Corbusier table, a slab of concrete on a concrete block base. It sent us rooting through our file of slab-and-pillar tables, a great formula for oddly chic d-i-y tables. Pillars can mean many things, like the oil drum-and-wood-slab-table we clipped from Style Files some time back:

Oil Drum and wood slab table — Francois Halard

…and this one, made of stone pillars and a thick slab of stone (not something an ordinary soul could put together without a crane)…

When we googled “slab and stone tables”, in the mix of images, we found a picture of a dolmen – a stone slab balanced on rough pillars created over 4000 years ago. These megalithic stone structures have been found all over the world, from Ireland to Korea, and we can’t help but wonder if their form resonates in us like some ancient memory….

Paulnabrone dolmen — Paulnabrone Domen, Ireland

…the trick is in getting the right proportion to top and base…

Knocknakilla Dolmen slab and stone table — Knocknakilla Dolmen, Ireland

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Then we looked up Casa Malaparte, on the isle of Capri, and discovered a WHOLE OTHER form of architectureal wonder that we never knew existed, including fab reverse pyramidal stairs leading to the roof patio…

“It sits on a dangerous cliff 32 meters above the sea overlooking the Gulf of Salerno…The house can only be reached by traversing the island. The last twenty minute walk is over private property, belonging to The Ronchi Foundation. It takes an hour and a half to walk there from Capri’s Piazzetta at the summit of the funiculare from the Marina Grande. The house can be reached by sea, on calm days only, as the waves are cast upon treacherous rocks and there has not been an official pier for many years. From the sea, one must climb 99 steps to reach the house…” –Wikipedia

via Atelier