BH | Studio Cortona Fluted Round Dining Table

Fluting, the parallel grooves that run up a classical column, is an Italian inheritance as much as a Greek one: Roman builders carried it across their empire, and Etruscan hill towns like Cortona are older even than Rome. Late eighteenth-century England put the dining table on pedestals so a whole party could sit with no legs to dodge, and a fluted base turns that practical idea into a small piece of architecture.

This is the round table of the line, its top set on a single drum pedestal wrapped in deep vertical fluting. The top is engineered wood with a pale wood veneer and a fine, natural grain, and felt pads go under the base. With one support in the middle, it seats four with no legs to work around, and it is rated to 330 lbs.

A natural for a kitchen corner or a small apartment dining room, it seats four for everyday meals and friends coming round, laid with a bread board, a carafe of water and a little pot of herbs. It also makes a lovely round table in a hall or a reading room. The pale finish keeps a modest room light, especially with cane chairs and a plain white wall behind.