Lunuganga Dining Table

To design the Lunuganga table, Bawa may have borrowed inspiration from his artist friends Ena de Silva and Laki Senanayake, who, in the 1960s, had crafted a few pieces of rustic furniture using slabs of Samanea saman wood (para mara in Sinhala, commonly known as the rain tree). This table was made for the Garden Room at Lunuganga, Bawa’s country estate, which functioned as both his creative playground and his design laboratory.

Made from a fallen tree found by the roadside, the original table consists of a heavy, three-inch-thick slab of para mara wood, supported by triangular wrought-iron stands. A smaller variant of this table, with differently shaped legs, can be found at the De Saram House in Colombo.

Given its construction from found elements, the re-edition of the Lunuganga Dining Table required some modifications. Instead of a single slab of wood, the tabletop is made from smaller sections of wood, joined together. To prevent the top from bending and cupping, stainless steel bracing has been added to the underside. While the original metal base featured irregularly spaced rods, and welded, mild-steel elements, the re-edition’s legs are made of stainless-steel machined components, and fastened with screws that enhance its sturdiness while making the table easier to move, transport, and assemble. The base is powder-coated in black.

This version of the Lunuganga Dining Table is true to the dimensions of the original table. The compact version is a smaller variant, designed for contemporary homes.