The Birdsmouth Table is a highly functional and symbolic piece. It incorporates a central tool of empire, the mast, into a beautiful jewellery-like element that punctuates the Chippendale inspired tabletop at each of the leg standing points. The table has eight legs, each with a brass castor, and six drawers lined with kangaroo skin.

The Birdsmouth Table takes its name from the birdsmouth mast, invented in the mid-nineteenth century. The hollowness of the mast enables a light yet strong design that is still utilised for small boats today. The Birdsmouth Table legs, manufactured in exactly the same way as the mast, bring a design element of the colonial period into playful use. The colours of the legs continue designer Adam Goodrum’s passion for bright colours, matching those used in navy signal flags.

Ships were a central tool in the expansion and maintenance of colonial empires. Goodrum was struck by Robert Hughes’ assertion in The Fatal Shore that ‘in eighteenth-century strategy, pine trees for masts and flax for sails had the naval importance that oil and uranium hold today.’ The sandwich tabletop design, with its six drawers and eight legs, pays homage to the Chippendale table. Elements of consoles, side and dining tables are brought together in Goodrum’s design.