French Rush Coffee Table

Every inch of this table is braided rush, wound over its frame from the top right down to the base. Found in Lille and dating to the mid-20th century, it is a low round table, a thick woven top on a spool-shaped base, worked all over in coils of twisted rush. Weaving a whole piece of furniture out of rush was a patient midcentury craft, the same braid used for humble chair seats carried across an entire table until a plain material turned sculptural. Sylvie sets it in front of a sofa with a stack of books and a candle, or tucks it beside a bed as a low, soft-edged nightstand.