The Reverso Tables designed by Cedric Ragot for Roche Bobois could not be more multi-functional or occasional if they tried-unless, like the furniture in Beauty and the Beast, the tables could be enchanted, move about, and speak for themselves (or sing).

Reverso Tables. Designed by Cedric Ragot. Manufactured by Roche Bobois.

The glass tables are available in three sizes: XL measures 33 cm H x 150 cm W x 80 cm D; M measures 33 cm H x 120 cm W x 50 cm D; S measures 55 cm H x 45 cm W x 33 cm D. Composed of three sides of a cube (the other three being phantoms) with a red rectangle of glass intersecting at an angle, the Reverso has the ability to work in various configurations-you can let the red glass act as the bottom of the table (this would be the default) or you can turn the table on its side. So when Reverso gets billed as multi-functional, it’s no exaggeration.

Perhaps Ragot is not aware of this, but Reverso has something in common with a strange early 19th-century item known as the polyterpic table, which combines a tea table, a games table, and a viewing machine. Reverso’s material, being translucent, has an optical effect, most especially where the two types of glass meet. The contention that Reverso is occasional cannot be denied either. Though the invention of the occasional table is much in dispute, its purpose is not: it’s meant for occasions-varied, special, or otherwise. Tipped on its side, the XL can act as a console table (perhaps in the entryway where you can drop your keys); balanced on the red “leg” of glass, it can act as a coffee table (perhaps in the library where you might prop your feet on it, while reading Thomas Pynchon).

Like the Reverso Tables, designer Ragot believes in the balance of form and function: “Always seeking to provoke, in a natural way, the thoughts, emotions and desires of the individual, his designs combine the functional aspects of an object with a proposition that is strong in both concept and appearance” (quoted in third person, but from his own website). A graduate of the French National Institute for Advanced Studies in Design, Ragot follows both commercial and artistic pursuits, designing the functional and the decorative-often combining both. And Reverso is a prime example of Ragot’s philosophy. The tables are playful and structural, colorful and subtle. Use them for anything, as a wet bar or a DJ table, a buffet or an accent table-they are as changeable as that infamous Hungarian invention, the Rubik’s Cube.