Sculptural Resin Table Is Made from 50,000-Year-Old-Wood

kauri wood resin table riva 1920 furniture design

Family-run Italian furniture design firm Riva 1920 has designed a stunning new resin table with 50,000-year-old wood inlay. And with a base designed by renowned architect Renzo Piano, the result is both artistic and functional.

The Earth Table expertly melds resin, iron, and Kauri wood from New Zealand to spectacular effect. The table top, which was designed by C.R. & S. RIVA1920, is a perfect complement to Piano's sculptural iron base. As light filters through the transparent resin, exotic shadows carpet the pavement.

The use of Kauri is an interesting choice by the designers. This ancient wood is prized for its rarity. Found only in New Zealand, the prehistoric trees grew for up to 2,000 years before being buried and preserved in peat. Pieces up to 50,000 years old have been harvested, with extraction a long and laborious process.

It's only fitting that this most rare and precious material should be the jewel of Earth Table. “It wants to be a stylized representation of the earth,” Riva 1920 shares. “The wooden parts metaphorically representing the continents and the resin sections the oceans.”

Most recently, the furniture design firm included Earth Table in its loft installation at IMM Cologne 2017. Mixed in among the other home furnishings, its unique, eye-catching beauty is impossible to overlook.

This stunning resin table was created using rare millenary Kauri wood from New Zealand.

kauri wood resin table riva 1920 furniture design

kauri wood resin table riva 1920 furniture design

kauri wood resin table riva 1920 furniture design

kauri wood resin table riva 1920 furniture design

kauri wood resin table riva 1920 furniture design

Sculptural Resin Table Is Made from 50,000-Year-Old-Wood

Riva 1920: Website | Facebook | Instagram
h/t: [designboom]

All images via Riva 1920.

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Jessica Stewart

Jessica Stewart is a Staff Editor and Digital Media Specialist for My Modern Met, as well as a curator and art historian. Since 2020, she is also one of the co-hosts of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. She earned her MA in Renaissance Studies from University College London and now lives in Rome, Italy. She cultivated expertise in street art which led to the purchase of her photographic archive by the Treccani Italian Encyclopedia in 2014. When she’s not spending time with her three dogs, she also manages the studio of a successful street artist. In 2013, she authored the book "Street Art Stories Roma" and most recently contributed to "Crossroads: A Glimpse Into the Life of Alice Pasquini." You can follow her adventures online at @romephotoblog.
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