Tables and desks, XXL sizes

Manufacturing in very large formats, when custom-made furniture takes on its full meaning

Five XXL tables and desks designed by Quentin Delion, cabinetmaker and designer in Bidart, told from the inside.

It took between six and eight people to unload a tabletop from the truck. Five hundred kilos of solid sipo wood, five meters ten long, ten centimeters thick: at this scale, custom-made furniture is no longer conceived as simply enlarging a piece of furniture. Weight, transport, and on-site assembly become as crucial as the design itself. Five projects carried out in recent years in the Basque Country and beyond illustrate this constraint in different ways.

Barbakoa, 2018 — a restaurant table over 5 meters long

Barbakoa, a barbecue restaurant, wanted a large outdoor table with a raw yet refined character, reflecting its own cuisine. The design remained entirely my responsibility, with one constraint set from the outset: a piece capable of withstanding outdoor use year-round. Sipo wood was chosen for its natural durability outdoors, an exotic wood selected here for its resistance rather than its local origins. The tabletop measures 5.10 meters by 1.40 meters, with a thickness of 10 centimeters, and is finished with a saturating oil. It rests on a stainless steel base that I designed and that a metalworker fabricated, secured with visible stainless steel hinge screws—a deliberate aesthetic choice rather than a technical compromise. The octagonal sipo crossbar simply fits into two stainless steel rods welded to the base.

It was upon delivery that the piece revealed its true nature: an object not to be carried, but to be maneuvered. The base was installed first, the tabletop placed on top and then secured, with the planing and sanding completed on-site rather than in a workshop. The table remains unique, but I would gladly repeat the process, this time using a local wood. Set for service, it seats up to 20 people, with glasses and plates lined up along its entire length for a group lunch or dinner.

RedBox, 2019 — an office commission in Bidart

For the company RedBox in Bidart, working directly with the client, an order for two varnished beechwood desks was placed: a large desk measuring 4.20 meters by 1.30 meters and a smaller one measuring 1.40 meters by 1.30 meters, both equipped with workstation dividers and fixed individual drawers, with electrical outlets integrated directly into the desktop. Black lacquered metal legs complete the set. The real challenge this time wasn't manufacturing but transport: the desks, disassembled piece by piece, had to be carried to the second floor before being reassembled on-site, stair by stair rather than through the main door of a workshop.

Studio Ona and Mayoko, 2023 — a second series of offices for Le Labo

A crack had opened in the wood. Rather than concealing it, it was stabilized with a butterfly repair, inlaid and proudly displayed: this detail, on one of the three solid beech tables delivered to Studio Ona, best encapsulates this second commission placed at Le Labo, the shared space between Studio Ona and Mayoko. The design of these tables echoes that of the RedBox desks, this time without outlets or drawers: two large ones measuring 2.70 meters by 1.30 meters, and a smaller one measuring 1.40 meters by 1.30 meters, with a solid top and a black lacquered solid beech base that I crafted myself in my workshop rather than outsourcing the fabrication of a metal base. The finish is an extra-matte natural varnish.

For Mayoko, the other company in the Lab, three elements make up the set: an L-shaped desk complemented by two rectangular tables measuring 2.60 x 1.40 meters. The tabletop is made of beech plywood, the trapezoidal base of solid beech lacquered black, the same finish as Studio Ona. Two commissions, two companies, a shared vocabulary of materials and colors for a space they share daily.

Mahaia, 2020 — an 8-meter table that crossed three territories

Mahaia the Concordant was initially built in the workshop parking lot due to a lack of sufficient interior space for its eight-meter diameter. It is a work by the artist Yves Chaudouët , conceived in 2019 for the Citadel of Pamplona at the request of Alexandra Baurès, which along the way became a cross-border project coordinated by curator François Loustau. I designed and conceived the table based on the artist's initial idea, considering from the outset its division into three demountable segments, assembled on-site simply by interlocking and screwing them together, to enhance the transport process rather than making it a burden. It is sixty-eight centimeters high, made of pressure-treated maritime pine from the Landes region.

The commission was placed with Ummagumma , the creative studio I co-founded with Benjamin Artola , which manufactured and installed the table. Initially assembled in its entirety at the Lizarrieta pass, it was then divided into three segments, each exhibited simultaneously in a different city: Bayonne, Bilbao, and Pamplona. After this journey, the table finally arrived in Gironde, in Callen, where the municipality acquired it in 2022.

The XXL format, another scale of customization

These five projects differ in their materials and uses, but they share a fundamental truth: beyond a certain size, a piece of furniture can no longer simply be manufactured in a workshop and then delivered. Each constraint—weight, transport, or space—demands its own technical solutions, project by project. This is a fundamental difference from mass-produced furniture, not just a matter of scale.

Quentin Delion is a designer and cabinetmaker in Bidart, in the Basque Country. He designs and manufactures large-format, custom-made furniture for individuals, restaurants, and businesses. Let's talk about it.