This dissertation analyses the table as a spatial and symbolic device structuring human relationships. Through a historical, formal and personal approach, it highlights how the table organises social relations, hierarchies, discussions and silences. The analysis distinguishes between what is at stake on the table, visible space, ritualised and coded, and what is revealed under the table, which is more instinctive, physical and often subconscious. By broadening reflection to the space around it, this work questions the table as a place for collective memory, for staging relationships, and as a design tool for interior architecture and design.
