Branded With Its Own Blueprints, This Table Could Live Forever

Remember how sad you were when the faithful side table that served you all through university didn’t survive the move home? No table would ever be the same, but such tragedies could be avoided in the future if the idea behind John Kestner and David Carr’s barcoded Rev–>table catches on.

Made from real solid oak and cold-rolled steel, the $US667 table will inevitably last a lot longer than the cheap particle board and wood veneer alternatives that IKEA sells. But the manufacturing process is essentially the same. The MIT alums’ company, Supermechanical, uses machines working from digital blueprints to produce the table. And to ensure it outlasts even the worst wear and tear, those blueprints are encoded in a 2D barcode that’s etched onto an aluminium plaque on the table’s surface.

So if the legs happen to break down the line, when the table’s out of production, you can just email off a set of DXF files to your local machine shop and have them cut you a new pair. The same goes for the tabletop if it gets irreparably damaged. You can even modify the original plans as needed, creating new custom versions for different purposes. As long as you’re willing to pay for the raw materials, the table can be recreated again and again. [Rev-->table via Wired]