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New Character – Maona Dining Table
A table as an architectural statement
Maona is a table that spatially negotiates opposites. The Japanese principle of Ma, a consciously articulated void, meets fluidity and organic form. Steel and solid wood, materials commonly perceived as heavy and static, shape a surprisingly light, almost fluid structure in which geometric precision and organic tension translate social dynamics into spatial form.
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"Solid wood meets steel, mass meets lightness. Maona spans the space between sculpture and encounter. Its form translates the dynamics of togetherness. This interplay of tension and calm, movement and pause, is reflected in the lines and surfaces that open up and come together again."
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Maona tells the story of two principles that do not contradict each other but depend on one another. In Japanese aesthetics, Ma describes the conscious space in between: the pause, the void, the moment of stillness that gives things meaning. Ona symbolically stands for movement, for the flowing and wave-like, for dynamism. Maona unites both. It is a name that articulates movement and interval. While the precise gap between the frame sides deliberately creates empty space, allowing light and air to pass through and giving the construction architectural clarity, the sculpturally curved sides introduce movement and emotional tension into the design. The space in between thus becomes a rhythmic element of the composition, a moment of pause that structures the volume and lends the table a visual lightness.
Within this field of tension between organic movement and geometric precision, a balanced design emerges. Formally, Maona keeps dynamism and stillness in equilibrium, much like the dining table itself shapes the rhythm of togetherness: a place for conversations and pauses, for exchange and discussion, for laughter, reflection and shared moments of staying. As a design that translates social dynamics into spatial form, Maona ultimately goes far beyond mere shape.
Rhythm of
togetherness
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Transformation of Mass
„The design concept follows a new approach to two archetypal materials: steel and solid wood. What is commonly perceived as heavy, static and grounding becomes, in Maona, a surprisingly light and almost fluid overall composition that oscillates between graphic clarity and organic softness depending on the viewing angle.“
This idea forms the starting point for a table that reexamines the relationship between material and mass. Rather than emphasizing the solidity of steel and solid wood, Maona explores how both materials can be set in motion, formally, atmospherically and in their spatial effect.
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The Process
The approach to the form evolved through a series of successive studies, from hand sketches to spatial models and finally to a precise 3D design. In the 1:1 prototype created in the manufactory, this process condensed into the central question of the design: how can maximum stability be translated into a deliberately filigree frame without losing its lightness? Maona answers this challenge with constructive clarity and formal consistency.
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The curved steel frame does not appear as a purely technical structure but as a sculptural gesture that both supports and defines the table. As the frame sides are positioned at a deliberately unusual angle to one another, Maona changes its appearance depending on the perspective. Its surfaces unfold a shifting field of tension in which rhythms and lines can be read anew from every viewpoint. The solid wood tabletop complements this interplay not through massiveness but through precision. The sharply chamfered Swiss edge lends the otherwise heavy, solid natural material a sense of visual lightness.
In this dialogue, both materials articulate their identity anew, not as static bodies but as defining elements of a composition that combines constructive precision with the idea of organic, flowing movement.
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Maona offers a variety of configurations across three clearly defined base shapes: a round tabletop, a rectangular format and a gently elongated boat shape. All variants feature the distinctive Swiss edge and can be realized in five types of solid wood, ranging from natural or white-oiled oak to deeply brushed “Oak Black” and the mineral-looking “Oak Meteor,” as well as refined American walnut.
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The rectangular tabletop and the boat shape offer a finely graduated scalability from 200 to 320 centimeters, in increments of 20 centimeters. From a length of 260 centimeters onward, the tabletop thickness increases structurally to 34 millimeters, while maintaining elegant proportions. The round table has a diameter of 130 centimeters and establishes a compact, communicative center. The steel frame is available in two lacquer finishes: Black Onyx, a finely textured powder coating with subtle metallic pigments, and Indian Brown, a warm brown tone with golden mica particles. Thanks to this range of configurations, Maona can be precisely integrated into a wide variety of spaces and thus becomes the central social focal point.
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What fascinates us about solid wood is its uniqueness, its value, its depth and its tangible authenticity. Crafted in a small manufactory, each piece is created from carefully selected European and American hardwoods whose planks are not only inspected but also sorted according to their grain. Only then does the craftsmanship begin: precise, attentive and guided by respect for the material that has grown over time. The grain becomes a fingerprint, unmistakable and unique. This closeness to craftsmanship fits Bretz naturally. Here, too, design, craftsmanship and passion flow together inseparably. Solid wood demands experience and time, qualities that resonate in every Bretz design. Both wood and velour reveal their true quality only through careful processing, through artisanal precision and through a creative approach to the material.
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A table like an architectural statement. Organically flowing lines meet geometric clarity and unite movement and calm in a balanced form that unfolds anew from every perspective. Crafted from European solid wood, Maona visibly carries within it the time and authenticity of the material.
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