Design Guild Mark Holder
Smalto Low Table
Name of Designer:
Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby263
2021
Knoll International
The Smalto Table now expands with Smalto Low Table, a series of low circular pieces, available in different sizes and heights. Entirely in enamel steel, their design process has been an exercise in purity and simplicity, and the outcome is a collection of tables of exceptional durability, both classical and contemporary in character. With its forceful graphic image, Smalto reinterprets the themes of the great design classics in a contemporary way. The rounded volumes and accommodating forms, together with a support structure that permits stable compositions with an accent on modernity, lend themselves to use in various spaces of the home, responding to a wide range of functional needs. The collection is a perfect blend of stylistic innovation and refined workmanship, including the finish of the metal itself, which relies on high temperatures to achieve a result similar to vitrification. The tubular legs support round tops, transmitting a sense of conceptual but also visual lightness, while conserving the perfect proportions.
Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby founded their eponymous studio in 1996 after graduating with Master’s degrees in Architecture from The Royal College of Art in London. From their first studio in Trellick Tower in London, they designed their first piece, the Loop Table, produced by Isokon in 1997. Much of Barber and Osgerby’s early work involved the folding and shaping of sheet material, influenced by the white card that they had used frequently in architectural model making.