Furniture has always had a love-hate relationship with art. Some pieces are so carefully considered in form that they become objects of admiration, almost too precious to actually use. Others are purely utilitarian and couldn’t care less about looking good. Few pieces try to genuinely blur that line, but that’s the territory experimental artist and designer Michael Jantzen has been working in for decades.
His Interactive Segmented Tables are a compelling example of that approach. These aren’t concepts or prototypes; they’re actual, built furniture that sits in a room and waits for you to decide what they should be. At any given moment, they can work as a proper low table for a drink or a book, and with a few turns of their knobs, transform into something that belongs in a gallery.
Designer: Michael Jantzen
The mechanism behind this is disarmingly simple. Each table is made up of identical segments threaded along a center support rod, held in place by two disc-shaped knobs on either end. Loosen those knobs, and you can rotate each segment independently into any configuration you like. Each segment has at least one flat side, so aligning enough of them with flat faces pointing upward turns the whole thing into a stable surface.
This is where the tables stop being passive objects and start being tools of expression. You might rotate the segments into something visually striking when guests arrive, then pull them flat when you need an actual surface for a lamp or a tray. The piece adapts to the occasion rather than the other way around, which is rarely something a table can honestly claim to do.
What makes this even more interesting is that the segments are two-toned, so rotating them doesn’t just change the table’s shape; it also shifts its color pattern. A configuration that shows one dominant tone can open up into a mix of both with a single rearrangement. You could work with the same piece for years and never feel like you’ve fully exhausted what it can look like.
The Interactive Segmented Tables also aren’t locked into a single form factor. Jantzen designed them to be available in many different sizes and table shapes, and they can be made from a range of materials. This means the same essential concept can translate into very different objects, depending on what a space or an owner calls for, without losing what makes them worth owning in the first place.
For anyone tired of furniture that commits too hard to a single personality, these tables offer something different. There’s a quiet pleasure in knowing you can reach down, loosen two knobs, and change what’s sitting in your living room without buying anything new. Few objects manage to be this honest about the fact that taste and function aren’t always fixed, and that’s a more useful quality than it sounds.
