DESIGN & BUILD

Whenever you’re having something custom-built, it’s essential to know everything you can about what you’re investing in because you want to ensure that it meets your expectations. To me, the details of how something is designed, built, and sourced are really important. These things will result in a really special piece of furniture—one of those few things you use and enjoy for the rest of your life.

DESIGN & PROPORTION

From a design perspective, we put a huge amount of emphasis on making sure that the table base is perfectly in proportion to the table top. The smallest angle or spacing change makes a big difference to the table’s overall look. Every single leg option has been 3D modelled with every table top size, so you know you’re going to get a combination specifically designed to fit together perfectly and be really balanced. Taking our Helix base design as an example, the curvature and the size of the base change according to the size of the table top.

DESIGN & BUILD

My brother John oversees the design and construction of all of our tables. Partly due to his nature and partly due to his background as a naval architect, he pays a lot of attention not just to the looks of the tables but also to the practicality and stability of all of our base designs. All of our tables are designed to look as good as possible and to function as well as possible.

SPECIFIC BUILD PROCESSES

The design of our tables is important, but it’s meaningless unless everything’s built in a really specific way. We’ve designed different processes specific to each material we deal with. As an example, I’ll tell you about our Statement French Oak, one of our best-selling products. French oak is widely regarded as the best oak in the world, but even the best timbers need additional measures to ensure consistency and longevity.

One of our makers goes to France to inspect every single tree, handpicking the cream of the crop. When working with pieces of timber of this size, conventional kiln drying isn’t sufficient as it leaves some moisture in the timber, leading to excessive twisting and cracking. So, when the trees arrive with us, we put them through our own specially designed drying process to remove any excess moisture. And this is just the start of it.

We have special movable joint systems. Every table top is reinforced with steel stiffeners, and we have different designs depending on the top material and its thickness. These measures allow the materials to expand and contract as they take in and release moisture from the atmosphere, reducing the risk of excessive cracking and twisting.

The same level of detail goes into every single top material we offer. For example, our stone tops have fibreglass reinforcement ribs embedded on the underside to give them extra strength and rigidity. Every part of the process for every top material for every table is like insurance to ensure it outlasts us. That’s why we are confident that when you buy one of our tables, it will be something you can enjoy and use for the rest of your life.

WARRANTIES & CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

We want the whole experience of buying and owning an Abacus table to be something really special. We have specifically designed warranties for every top material and every base to cover anything that could go wrong. For example, you get our wood movement warranty with all our timber tables. While you can’t completely eliminate the risk of wood movement, we will service the table around 12 months after installation, during the settling period. This ensures that any movement that is likely to happen will be addressed.

We aim to make furniture the way we would want it made if it were for us. We aim to create pieces where you can’t see any traces of compromise. So, if you’re the kind of person who wants to know that they’ve got the very best, I’m confident that an Abacus table would be a great fit. I am confident that you’ll get a huge amount of pleasure and enjoyment out of it for the rest of your life.