Civilization Table

Civilization is a series of uniquely hand-carved marble coffee and dining tables, based on ancient Temples and Monuments hewn from their surrounding landscapes. This series pays homage to their great artistry, to create pieces that will last for the civilisations that come long after us.

Our aim with the Civilisation tables is to use the medium of sculpture – one of the oldest art forms, working with traditional materials, tools and techniques – to reinterpret and reimagine these incredible structures, and to create modern furniture designs which pay homage to their outstanding beauty as well as the artistry and incredible skills of the craftsmen that first made them.
Chris Duffy

Designed by Christopher Duffy for Duffy London. The Civilization Series is a limited edition of 11 bespoke pieces in three different versions named: Petra, Kailasa, and AlUla.

Each table is made bespoke to order from several types of coloured marble.
The stone is hand-selected for every commission, and then sculpted using traditional tools and techniques; an enduring tribute to the original historic Wonders, and a reminder of the power of sculpture as an art form.

As featured on Designboom

The sheer levels of skill and amount of technical processes that are required to manufacture each Civilization table ensure that each piece is completely unique and that no two pieces can ever be the same.

Each table is formed from a beautiful marble base that is hand-picked and carved out of a solid, singular block of stone by master stonemasons over many months – using traditional techniques, and chipping away at the rock diligently and purposefully with chisels and hammer until the form reveals itself.

Smaller, considered strokes using a range of specialist chisels, and more delicate rasps and riffler files help to add in the finer points of detail, while sandpaper and emery cloths are used to smooth and polish the stone, accentuating the natural sheen of the marble.

“I’d been in discussions with a team of master stonemasons, on possible projects to work together on, we had come up with quite a few concepts but nothing quite grabbed me, and then I saw a friend’s photographs from his Saudi Arabia AlUla trip.
A picture he took at Qasr-al-Farid is how it all started.”

“This was the perfect subject matter as these ancient monuments had long been fascinating to me. I then thought of Petra in Jordan and the Kailasa Temple in India. The ancient masters who designed and carved these most impressive pieces are impossible to improve upon, and so we have simply reinterpreted their genius to make this series of pieces”.
Chris Duffy

“Architecture is inhabited sculpture”
Constantin Brancusi

The three tables in the Civilization series are modelled on the Al-Kazneh Temple at Petra in Jordan, the Qasr-al-Farid tomb at AlUla, Saudi Arabia, and the Kailasa Temple in Ellora Caves, Maharashtra, India; incredible man-made monuments and markers of Human endeavour that have survived the test of time.

These original towering structures were carved directly from the rock of their surrounding landscapes with the most intricate skills by master craftspeople; each one a demonstration of Culture and Man’s capabilities as both engineer and artist.

MATERIALS

Carved Marble. Glass.

DIMENSIONS

Dining (L) 250cm (W) 120cm (H) 75cm
Coffee (L) 180cm (W) 100cm (H) 45cm

Console / Wall Façade – on request

DELIVERY TIMES

Each table is made bespoke to the customer’s requirements in size and in the choice of stone/colour, each piece of stone is hand-selected for every commission, please allow 16 weeks manufacture time as every table is immensely time-consuming in man-hours as each is carved by hand.