I’ve never been much of an artist. Particularly when it comes to drawing, I seem to lack the most rudimentary skills. In fact, I was just soundly defeated by my eight-year-old niece in a recent drawing contest (my version of a girl in a skirt elicited fits of howling laughter). But this marked absence of talent hasn’t kept me from creating my share of smiley faces and stick men. Given that these are about all I’m capable of, I’ve peppered the assorted notebooks of my life with such simplistic figures.

One wonders whether French graphic designer Jean Jullien suffers from a similar affliction. The preliminary drawings for “Table Man,” done in impromptu fashion on an old-school chalkboard, as if Jullien had been teaching a grade-school class, impress me as the epitome of a “smiley-face” aesthetic. That is to say, they capture the youthful whimsy of the icon while evincing a designer’s eye for turning imagination into reality.

Table Man. Designed by Jean Jullien. On display at the Russian Club Gallery’s Designers Furniture exhibition.

Detail of Table Man. Designed by Jean Jullien.

Concept Sketch of Table Man. Designed by Jean Jullien.

That transformation is precisely the accomplishment of the table/art piece/design installation Jullien calls “Table Man.” Unveiled recently at the Russian Club Gallery’s Designers Furniture show, the piece is an expansive trio of tables—the first an especially long one for dining, and the other two a matching pair of low tables for drinks. The long table is complemented by bench seating on both sides and—the crowning achievement—a stool is jauntily perched at table’s head. In this case, “Head of the Table” takes on new meaning, since the stool bears the visage of the aforementioned classic smiley face.

A skyward vantage reveals that the entire ensemble creates the “Man” in Jullien’s “Table Man”: the long table is the torso, the benches are the arms, and the low tables pass for legs. Made of compressed wooden laminate, Table Man is hand painted in cream, pink, and blue pastels, with a gradation effect that makes the torso resemble the sunlit windows of a glassy skyscraper. The choice is fitting, since it emphasizes Table Man’s cherry aesthetic. One would expect nothing less of Jullien’s genial floor-bound giant.

Via wallpaper.com.