Designer Robert van Embricqs‘s “Rising Table” is the work of an illusionist. As its name implies, the table can be coaxed out of its original flat state to form a self-standing table–a stylish one at that–like some magical apparatus from a past era, handled by the gifted showman who impossibly suspends the material laws of nature with verve and gestural flourishes alone. It’s a great vanishing act, with the designer expertly manipulating the very thin wood into a latticework of supporting legs, creating a work with the veneer of tectonics whose very physical adroitness seemingly betrays the same tectonic logic. The trick’s aura is further substantiated by Van Embricq’s own explanatory diagram which recalls old patent and working drawings (with the unresolved lines and lack of detail) as if it had been ripped out of an antique log book filled with the secret unrealized contraptions of a master magician. You can’t forget the final part of the act, of course–the table can be made flat just as easily as it had sprouted legs, always ready for the next performance.
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