The Fletcher Capstan Table

Fletcher Burwell-Taylor is a British luxury furniture maker. They have designed and built the unique Fletcher Capstan Table.

This unique and amazing table is capable of automatically doubling its seating capacity whilst remaining truly circular in the process. Expansion leaves are stored within the table and are self positioning as the table changes from one mode and appearance to an entirely different one. Operation, which can either be manual or electronic, is simple and extremely quick.

The table top leaves are constructed from a sophisticated layering system and have, at their core, a layer of aluminium honeycomb. This gives them strength, rigidity, stability, and low weight. The table top is composed of thirteen self-stored elements and is capable of radial expansion by turning the top through 120 degrees. When small, the top is made up of six pie shaped leaves. Under this first layer lie two more layers of leaves, the second made up of six arrow shaped leaves and, under that, a large star shaped leaf.
The small table top is enclosed by an outer skirt in the manner of a drum table. This rises and falls as part of the expansion process and completes the table when it is small, making it truly round in both of its modes.

The original idea for a table of this type was formed in the nineteenth century by a man named Robert Jupe, who patented his design in 1835. Jupe’s table was initially round, and had an ingenious geometry and a similarly ingenious method of making it expand radially, changing from a small size to a table of larger diameter. However, these tables could not store their own expansion leaves, were not truly round in every stage, plus they were slow and laborious to operate. The idea was wonderful though and was a source of inspiration and re-invention for David Fletcher.