I was much gratified this morning to land on the webpage of Spain’s resol group, where I quickly noticed two phenomena I much admire: Girona and Sputnik. The first is a picturesque Catalonian town just North of Barcelona (and home of resol, where I once enjoyed a riverside stroll and a scrumptious scoop of cinnamon gelato, and the second references the seminal Soviet satellite that also became a pervasive metaphor for shaking America from its technological slumber and catapulting us to the moon. The term is also the chosen moniker for resol’s line of contemporary indoor/outdoor tables.

Sputnik. Designed by Josep Lluscà.

A Slick Design in Anodized Aluminum and Painted Iron

Coincidentally, President Obama mentioned Sputnik last night in his State of the Union, characterizing it as an emblem of our ability to work across political lines in order to overcome technological obstacles, and challenging the present generation with the task of converting to clean energy, thus capitalizing on our “Sputnik moment.” Resol’s Sputnik tables may not change anyone’s destiny, but they’ll certainly change many an afternoon, and definitely for the better. Designer Josep Lluscà created Sputnik for high durability and maximum appeal (certainly admirable qualities in a satellite). Short of that, I can only speculate that the designer chose “Sputnik” because the spider-like legs of the pedestal base reminded him of the projecting arm clamp from the spacecraft in Kubrick’s 2001.

Each of the three Sputnik Tables features this two-piece pedestal base—the first, a polyamide-injected casing, and the second, a painted iron counterweight. The shaft is tubular anodized aluminum, 60 x 2 mm in glossy, matte, or painted finish. Options for tops include Werzalit, Phenolic Compact, H2O, Duroflat and Stone Premium Durolight.

This last litany may sound like a roster of chemical compounds that either were or will be required to champion the aforementioned Sputnik moment, but, alas, they’re merely the lineup of choices for Sputnik’s composite and laminate tops. Multiply those possibilities by Lluscà’s Mesa Pie Central, Mesa Pie Central Alto, and Mesa Pie Central Doble (translated loosely as “standard,” “high,” and “double” tables), and the sky (or the stars) is the limit.