We don’t know whether to classify the tables from Greg Klassen’s River Collection as furniture or sculptures. On the one hand, they’re functional tables you can use for a variety of functions around the house. On the other, they’re so beautifully crafted that your heart will probably break if you spill spaghetti sauce all over it or accidentally scratch the glass portion while moving the home theater equipment you set up on the tabletop. Ouch.
The idea is simple: Greg makes tables with tops that look like topographic maps of rivers and the land mass surrounding them. The result is absolutely sublime, with beautiful creations that look like the surface of the Earth when viewed from an office chair flown by large balloons way up in the sky.
Each of the pieces in the River Collection Tables all use the same concept. The artist handpicks discarded timber from around the Pacific Northwest where he lives, then sculpts them into half of a tabletop with one intentionally rough side. He then joins two pieces of the handcrafted slabs by inserting a blue-tinged glass that’s hand-cut to accommodate the wooden tops’ uneven edges, then sets them up on erstwhile traditional table legs and frame. Boom, you’ve got what looks like a body of water running in the middle of your dining room set.
Different table types are available in the River Collection, including dining tables, coffee tables, conference tables, and console tables. Since these are, essentially, meticulously-handcrafted sculptures doubling as functional furniture, it will cost you. Pricing starts at $3,600.
