Maison et objet: the “W8” side tables by Alain Gilles for French furniture company Ligne Roset are the result of the Belgian designer’s exploration of weight and stability, and somehow, also instability. Envisioned to go by a sofa as a side table, or by a bed as a bedside table, W8 — pronounced “weight” — calls on the idea of firmness, reassuring it through its stone base. Its highly-graphic appearance showcases a contrast between lightness and heaviness: the delicate cage-like structure supports the base while the heavy pietra serena stone equilibrates the overall piece.

W8 by Alain Gilles establishes a very successful conversation between the various materials used as well as the different shapes. Composed of a solid base in a rounded conical shape made from turned grey tuscan stone, from which springs forth a slim black or white lacquered flat steel structure on which the upper top seems to levitate. Without the stone, this table would never be stable because of its large rounded curves.

“The general inspiration came from this well-known archetype of side tables that have a heavy base and then usually only one metal support holding a plate,” comments Gilles on the design. “Since I was playing with curved metal sides, it only seemed logical to play with the round stone.”

Design: Alain Gilles
Photography: Marek Swoboda

http://www.designboom.com/design/alain-gilles-w8-ligne-roset-maison-et-objet-02-01-2017/