Riad table

Inspired by the cement tiles made in Mediterranean countries, the table by Catalan de Ocon and Faccin has a technical core that is engineered in minute detail #MDW2016

The Riad table, designed by Alvaro Catalan de Ocon and Francesco Faccin came about as a result of a trip that the two designers made to Marrakech a few years ago.

“While we were there we learned about the process used in Mediterranean countries for making cement tiles,” explains Alvaro. “We wanted to reproduce this method and and introduce some new processes and materials to create a table that incorporated the productive process used for these tiles”.

Riad table by Alvaro Catalan de Ocon and Francesco Faccin

The invention lies in the double layer of cement used with a metal structure inside to strengthen it and make it lighter. “We tried to keep it as slender as possible using a kind of high-tech cement with vetroresin” With a top just 1.6 mm thick and a weight of 6 kg, the table (when taken apart) can be flat-packed.

The table puts into practice the traditional methods and patterns used to make cement tiles in the early twentieth century – what were known as cementine – the cheap, industrial answer to mosaic. Isolated and deconstructed, this classic decorated tile becomes the table top. Considerable research was required to reinforce and resize the top for positioning the metal legs at the correct angle and create group arrangements of tables, potentially infinite.

Riad table, Alvaro Catalan de Ocon e Francesco Faccin — Riad table by Alvaro Catalan de Ocon and Francesco Faccin

12–17 April 2016
Riad table
Design: Alvaro Catalan de Ocon, Francesco Faccin
Galleria Rossana Orlandi
via Matteo Bandello 14, Milan

Riad table

Inspired by the cement tiles made in Mediterranean countries, the table by Catalan de Ocon and Faccin has a technical core that is engineered in minute detail #MDW2016

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