They’re Tops
I love technically daring design, in my opinion it’s just a beautiful thing. Beautiful for its functionality (that’s boy talk for ‘it works’) for its practicality (that’s girl talk for ‘ it does what I need’) and it would be nice if it looked good too. In the industry they call that craftsmanship.
db Fletcher Capstan Ilona
The db Fletcher Capstan Ilona expanding table is one of those designs that gets my motor going. A spokesperson for the company said, “there had long been a tradition of extending oblong tables that can be traced from early oak draw-leaf refectory tables to the elegant pillar tables of the late 18th century. But the oblong table required a dining room built for that purpose.
In 1835, Robert Jupe patented his design for “an improved expanding table constructed so that the sections comprising its surface might diverge from a common centre and that the spaces caused thereby may be filled up by inserting leaves or filling pieces.”
db Fletcher Designs
At db Fletcher Designs they considered that, “the brilliance of the Jupe patent design was that a circular centre table could be a decorative feature in a ‘salon’ and also be made larger. The concept was to divide the top of a round table into four quarters and mount them on a concealed mechanism so that when the top was rotated the segments moved outwards. Leaves could then be inserted into the gaps so that a much larger table top was formed.
According to the db Fletcher company, the biggest drawback of antique and modern tables alike is that nineteenth century geometry demanded that the spare expansion leaves be stored externally from the table. This caused the expansion process to be laboriously slow and cumbersome with some tables involving eight trips between the table and the spare leaf storage cabinet. Jupe tables were not always truly round in all sizes either, nevertheless, the idea was good and was a source of inspiration and reinvention for their design team.
Drawbacks to the Jupe design
Recognising the drawbacks to the Jupe design and realising the potential of such a piece they set about designing a table that would expand automatically and store its expansion leaves within itself. This, after many tears of development, has now been achieved to stunning effect. Their geometry is radically different to Robert Jupe’s and involves a central twelve-pointed star.
The table’s top surface was housed on three separate layers and below it is a complex but exceptionally robust mechanism that whirls the entire top and skirt through its operation cycle of about 30 degrees. In just three seconds the table transforms from a small seating capacity to one that can accommodate twice as many diners. The operation of it is pure magic.
db Fletcher-designed tables have evolved more as time has gone by. A skirt in the manner of a drum table was added some years ago and that made the table truly circular in both modes and enabled a larger expansion ratio. Mechanisms, and indeed entire tables have been made to such a standard that they are now capable of salt-water inundation.
More recent innovations have brought about a number of savings in weight whilst also providing exceptional stability and rigidity. A power-operated mechanism is now offered as are a number of different types of main construction material including marble for instance. Their tables are built to an exceptionally high standard and as far as they know there is no other table on the planet that has an equal performance or fascination.”
Big call you think? Well no. I did a quick search of Youtube and counted in excess of 2 million views from just 4 clips by 4 different broadcasters. That’s astonishing when you consider we’re talking a ‘table’ here NOT your latest Rock band or celebrity type.
Poul Kjaerholm
I should say too that Poul Kjaerholm (1929-1980) a Dane also designed some highly innovative furniture and devised a round table with extra curved segments that you clipped on round the outside edge like the lip of a soup plate thus making it bigger. Fashion designer Oscar de la Renta in New York and Theodore Alexander in London, Designers and Makers of Fine Furniture copied and made Jupe-like inspired reproductions out of a veneered marine plywood that started at around £6,600 ($13,200).
In the early 1980s Christie’s put a £12,000 estimate on an 1835 Jupe table it was selling at its South Kensington site. The previous owner, a doctor, had used it in his consulting rooms in Harley Street having bought it second-hand in 1915 for £15. At auction it fetched £35,000. Jupe’s bigger tables have also been heavily fought over. When a 97-inch version that seats 18 came up for sale at Christie’s in June 2006 two bidders pushed the price up over the top estimate to £321,600.
Christie’s Auction
Last year a William IV Jupe extending circular mahogany dining table was sold as part of the sale entitled ‘Thomas Hope and the Neo-Classical Vision’ at Christie’s, London, on April 24th, Lot 130. Christie’s estimated at the time it would sell for between £100,000-150,000.”
Like I said at the start, technically daring design is just a beautiful thing so hats off to the db Fletcher design team because in my books they rock! I’ve always thought if I had the gumption I’d love to have danced on a table top so in a literary first for me I think I will!
I like wins when they come, it makes you feel like you’re on TOP of the world if you’ll excuse the pun. This blog post marks an uncommon feat for me. It’s my 400th post. So with that little tap dance under my belt. Thank you all for reading. Cheers.
