It was clear to me all along that this table needed round section legs that gently splay out. I’ve experimented in the past with designs where the legs also taper down but that felt too mid century for this form. I also set myself the constraint that there needed to be a shelf. Not for packing piles of books and magazines that never get read but something that encourages the user to only store a few essential reading materials.

The character felt way too traditional when I played around with a solid timber or slatted timber shelf. I needed something to bring a new set of energies. Something soft and tactile. Overseas, Danish paper cord is used extensively in furniture design and this was my next thought. However this didn’t sit well with me considering my Zimbabwean context. I needed something locally available which lead me to cotton braided rope. However the white colour clashed with the timber and the cord stretched way too much. Finally I settled on fabric. This soft texture fits well in a lounge context and brings a very welcome measure of colour into the equation. For local Zimbabwean production I would lean in favour of locally grown and produced cotton canvas. The challenge there would be finding suitable naturally dyed colour ways. For Europe production I would specify hemp canvas which is exceptionally durable and wonderfully sustainable.