BH | Studio Moustiers Globe-Base Side Table

The slim drinks table, sometimes called a martini table, belongs to the cocktail hour of the 1950s, when a living room needed small, light surfaces at the elbow of every chair. Marble has weighted and dressed furniture since antiquity, and a stone foot remains the neatest way to anchor a narrow table.

This table stands on a sphere of white marble, from which a slim iron rod rises to a round, thin iron top. Here the rod and top are finished in White, Jet or Brass, so the piece reads light, almost sculptural. The weight sits low in the stone, which keeps such a slender table steady, and the top is just big enough for a drink, a book or a potted plant. It is rated to hold 99 lbs, and a non-marking pad under the stone protects the floor.

Made for small spaces, it tucks beside an armchair or the end of a sofa in a studio apartment where a full side table would not fit, and lifts easily from seat to seat as the conversation shifts. It also makes a pretty plant stand for a trailing ivy. It gives a retro note to a sunny room of pale linen, cane and rattan, with a coral cushion or two for colour.