Maòli has expanded its collection of unconventional furnishings with a new product that is the result of cooperation with designer Alessandro Loschiavo. After the much-talked-about success of the Walking Family series, presented for the first time last year in Paris and that recently received the Good Design Award from The Chicago Athenaeum, it adds to the family of surrealistic objects inspired by the nature of the African savannah. This time in particular, the stimulus came from the observation of certain wading birds that habitually live along the shores of the great lakes in equatorial Africa. Their tall, slender legs and cautious, measured movement as they advance in shallow waters were the cues that quite influenced the shaping of the Marabù side table, made entirely in Mahogany or Rose heartwoods and composed of a flat teardrop-shaped top, two obtuse-angled legs and circular base. The legs are substantially equal to thus cut wastage to the minimum in the wood-working phase, and are fixed to the top and base with a slight rotation of one with respect to the other. The result is an “ornitho-morphic” object that effectively recalls a wading bird (like the marabou stork) caught as if walking in a pond. Marabù is intended to be a homage to surrealist artist Meret Oppenheim and his 1939 work “Table with Bird's Legs”, produced in the 1970s by Simon S.p.A. as part of the Ultramobile Collection overseen by Dino Gavina. Marabù can be seen in Milan on the occasion of the coming Salone del Mobile furniture show, from 14th to 21th April next at the A+MBookstore, in the form of a curious installation called “Il Lago dei Marabù” and ironically inspired by Tchaikovsky’s celebrated ballet “Swan Lake”. This setting will also be achieved using a new special Maòli aluminium and will see the participation of Aliantedizioni.