Guests of InterContinental hotel in Hong Kong are recommended not to forget to visit the newly renovated lobby lounge that now has a very unusual and distinguishing feature a huge and heavy bar table that weighs 2 tons!
The giant table is the result of the hotel’s collaboration with Jake Walker, a Beijing based designer and artist. The table is made of several types of wood. Walker used such materials as American burled poplar, African rosewood, and African padauk.
The wooden table has several zones and consists of 12 blocks. The initial idea of the designer was to create a huge table that would resemble the whale’s belly. In order to do this, Walker took small pieces of laminated padauk and joined them in larger sections. The top of the table is made of rosewood, and its borders are decorated with burled poplar. The ready table was polished, so its mirrored surface reflects the lights of the lobby.
Of course, making such a “piece of furniture” was an uneasy task. However, it was also very difficult to transport it to the hotel’s lobby. The two-ton table was flipped and then legs were attached to it (the legs are made of wood and steel, and feature stiletto-type design). Then, as many as a dozen men moved the table into the hotel. The table was brought using a forklift, and the hotel’s staff needed to cover doors and marble floors in order not to scratch them.
If you don’t plan to visit the hotel, but still want to look at the table, then you can see the video on YouTube that describes the table and its transportation to the hotel.