BH | Studio Cuenca Ribbed Coffee Table

Cabinetmakers have long cut wood into ridges, as in the reeding that runs down the legs of Regency tables, because ridged wood catches light and shadow in a way a plain board cannot. Cuenca, high in central Spain, shows the same effect on a grand scale: its old town sits on cliffs of banded rock that take the sun in horizontal layers.

Here the ridges run sideways. Each end of this rectangular coffee table is a broad support built up from deep horizontal ribs, so the base looks like a pile of boards laid one on another, and a thick, plain top sits across the two with a slim shadow line between. The top is faced in a hard-wearing wood-grain veneer, and at nearly four feet long it gives you room for a tray, a stack of books and everyone's drinks at once. It is rated to hold 240 lbs.

It fits a spare, modern living room, a room of mid-century pieces with a low sofa, or the lounge corner of an office, working as a surface for books, drinks and decor and as something good to look at. Pale ribbed wood with linen upholstery and a jute rug gives the middle of the room weight without darkening it; finish it with a stoneware bowl, a candle and a few art books stacked flat.