Playfully titled, Rabbit & the Tortoise Collection, this family of seven tables with fluid forms and varying sizes gives both interiors and exteriors an atmosphere that recalls happy childhood days filled with different animals and shapes. Studio Juju’s Timothy Wong and Priscilla Lui created them as objects with “pure aesthetics and poetry” using a free-spirited approach.

“The visual quality of the tables is one of lightness in spirit and finesse in sensibilities. The sinuous forms of the tables challenge our perceived notions of table typologies. Beyond the imaginative shapes and joyful disposition of its childlike appearance, the enjoyment also lies in the energy of its ever changing composition that afford various uses, thus always meeting the needs of the context it finds itself in”, Timothy explains. “Many of the sketches and doodles that we love to draw have a similar trait – shapes that delight and seem to move”.

The collection’s circles are not exactly round, its rectangles are slightly more elongated and have a slight curl, its asymmetrical forms seem to move, and many of its soft shapes appear to float. All the pieces can be grouped in one cluster to create an eye-catching focal area of undulating surfaces, or each can be individually parked in corners or even by the side of sofas like secluded islands.

Crafted from 3mm laser-cut sheet steel with epoxy powder coated white and black, they come with legs in tubular steel mounted separately and can be flat-packed. The outdoor version has cataphoresis coating. During their development, Studio Juju transformed sketches into paper models through the exploration process. “The act of making small models allows for deliberation and discretion”, says Timothy. The small models were then translated into full-scale mock-ups before being manufactured.

The collection’s greatest functional value is its “freshness”, according to Timothy. After all, its creators designed the pieces “to respond to the living area with a different pair of eyes”. They can make a difference to people’s lives as they offer a new perspective on the living space. “By not subscribing to the usual typology that prescribes itself to the living space, Rabbit & the Tortoise Collection speaks a new language”.

First presented as prototypes at the Salone Satellite, Milan, in 2009, the Rabbit & the Tortoise Collection caught the eye of established Italian furniture maker Living Divani, which developed and presented it at the Milan Furniture Fair in 2012. The collection was launched commercially in fourth-quarter 2012 and is now distributed worldwide.