Bogolan Side Table – Knock-Down African Table in Solid Padauk | Wouley

A work of art at hand height

It's the end of the day. You set down your cup, an open book, a glass of wine — and the low evening light awakens the carved motifs of the top. The Bogolan Side Table isn't one of those tables you forget in a corner: its round carved top, bearing the geometric weaves of Africa's great cloths, makes it a piece you look at as much as you use. A table you don't hide away — one you put on show.

Padauk, a wood unlike any other

We did not carve it from just any wood. Padauk is the "red wood" of Central Africa, held sacred for generations: ground into powder, it adorns the skin at births, marriages and life's great passages — wherever red speaks of life, vitality and protection. Its warm, natural reddish-orange tones seem to hold the light of dusk. A true colour, unstained, that only grows richer over the years.

The motifs, a woven memory

The top takes up the vocabulary of the continent's textile arts, like Malian bogolan: juxtaposed bands, zigzags, chevrons, meanders and dots that have always told stories on cloth. Raised from the wood in relief, they give the table a character both graphic and warm, at home in modern, contemporary or ethnic-chic interiors alike.

Nomadic by nature

This side table is a flat-pack design that assembles and dismantles by hand, without a single tool. Packed flat, it travels and stores away effortlessly; set up in seconds, it takes its place wherever you wish. A piece of furniture made to travel — much as the great courts of Africa once moved, carrying their most treasured belongings with them. From one room to another, from a house to a garden, from one move to the next, it follows you anywhere.

Picture it in your home

Beside the sofa, it holds the morning cup and the evening book. Next to a reading chair, it becomes the companion of a quiet moment. As a bedside table, it brings a warm presence by the bed. And clear of any object, it turns into a plant stand: set a plant, a sculpture or a candle on it, and it becomes a focal point in its own right.

A unique, handmade object

Shaped in our workshop, each Bogolan Side Table is one of a kind: the shades of the wood, its grain and the carving of the motifs never quite repeat. A side table that is not quite a side table — rather a useful work of art, to live with daily and to pass on.

A Wouley signature — where wood remembers and tells its story.

Features

• Type: round side table / accent table (sofa-side, bedside, plant stand)
• Top: solid padauk, relief-carved with African textile motifs
• Wood: solid African padauk (natural reddish-orange tone, a sacred wood of Central Africa)
• Flat-pack design: assembles and dismantles by hand, no tools
• Finish: natural colour, unstained
• Artisan-made — a unique piece by Wouley

Dimensions

• Top: Ø 38 cm
• Height: 42 cm

Care

Padauk asks for next to nothing. A soft cloth brings back its glow. Just keep it away from standing water and long hours in direct sun. A touch of wood oil once a year revives its red tones — but your table will do just fine without it.