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Not since Josef Alber’s brilliant Bauhaus-era nesting tables have I seen a similar design that does it better, and while nothing really tops Bauhaus for me, Rotterdam-based designer Reinier de Jong’s REK coffee table comes awfully close. Like Alber’s design, REK offers an elegant, space-saving solution. It’s three tables in one, which basically triples your available surfaces for when you have guests over. When company leaves, it tucks away neatly into a central cube-like shape.
“REK is a coffee table that grows with your coffee needs. When you have visitors, just get some chairs and extend the table any way you like. Built-in stops make sure you will not extend the sliding parts too far.
The top and two sides of REK are white HPL and the edges are finished with your choice of solid wood: oak, berch or beech. The end grain side of the wood is beveled in order to get a grip: A subtle detail. The dimensions of REK table obviously vary with its configuration: 60 by 80 cm in collapsed state, its maximum lenth is 170 cm and its maximum width is 130 cm.”
de Jong’s other furniture is surprisingly different, like the bright yellow, Beetlejuice-esque Volt table and the fire engine red Keer chair. He does offer one other design in the REK line, a bookcase that, like the coffee table, expands and folds away depending on how large your library is.
