No-No Tables by Note Design Studio & Norm Architects for Menu

No-No tables are a result of the meeting between two Scandinavian design studios and an old italian floor. During a visit in Milan, Kristoffer Fagerström stumbled upon the most fantastic old and patinized marble floor.

“The tilting of the floor was put together from leftover pieces of stone. Almost randomly the different slabs of marble in a variety of qualities and colors came together in a beautiful disordered patten, that made it into the most beautiful graphic artwork.”, Kristoffer Fagerström explains.

The thought of using this normally elevated and luxurious material in a more casual way became the starting point of this collaborative project between Note and Norm. Later the same day, Note Design Studio stumbled into Norm Architects somewhere in Milan and a discussion about the beauty of the random qualities of the floor – which you also find in the traditional Japanese landscape architecture – morphed into to a product idea for the design company Menu.

The result of the project is a set of 3 small occasional tables, ranging from the size of a regular sofa table to the size of a large centerpiece of tray. The inspiration from the floor has become a decorative tabletop surface composed of different slabs of marble that makes Patch Marble Tables into mass produced individuality.

Each individual table has its own character and tension between the natural pieces of marble laid out in a graphic pattern, echoing the tiled tables of the 1970s in a new and contemporary way. ”In the process of designing the tables we played with the idea of micro furniture”, says Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen of Norm Architects. ”We wanted to create something that was in between furniture and accessories with a multi-purpose in the home”.

The tables can be used on the dining table, as a tray, on the credenza, besides the sofa, as your night table, for plant pots, books or your small occasional lamp in the corner. They can also be combined, stacked as a small installation or plateaus for showcasing your favorite objects or simply put together as regular but flexible sofa tables in front of your couch.

The contrast of the heaviness of the stone and the very light and delicate powder coated steel legs gives the tables an effortless grace. The contrast of the simplicity of the design and the richness of the marble structures that interact, makes the tables intriguing in a subtle and understated manner.

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