With a body of work that now spans over a decade, Larissa Batista was the trailblazer of the pool table redesign movement for the modern home. The old and 'traditional' pool table aesthetic now give way to elegant designs that will look as good in a living room as a mid-century modern dining table.
At that time, nobody wanted to put a pool table in their modern living room, says the designer. That was understandably so as there weren’t any tables available that matched the interior decor. They were usually 'heavy looking', had rectangular feet and no color options. Right after we created the first game table collection (that included pool, poker and chess), interior designers and architects prominently began displaying my designs as they became decorative objects to be showcased in their projects.
As a general rule, the aesthetics of the 'traditional' pool tables comprise a rustic, heavy and inelegant appearance that hardly ever match the furniture of a family home. The characteristics of this aesthetic are usually the result of the need to cover up structural components that provide rigidity to the product, attributes many times necessary for models being used in commercial places such as bars, for example. As a result, billiard tables are usually hidden by their owners in less frequented areas of the house such as in the basement or the garage.
Based on these observations and in search of a design with greater aesthetic sensitivity, Larissa began to elaborate sketches of tables to to match both contemporary and modern interior decor. One of these pool tables, dubbed Milan after the fashion capital of the world, was specifically designed to compose contemporary interior styling with classic features inspired by antique furniture. An example of Milan's aesthetic contrast to conventional models is its Chippendale feet—a characteristic element of classic furniture—complementing its robust structure in a refined manner.
"The Milan is an unprecedented design that looks beautiful in any material and color. It matches both classic and contemporary interior decor. Game table design has finally reached an attractive and charming look suitable to be displayed in the living room of any family home", says Larissa Batista.
Larissa's pool table designs are a disruptive milestone in the market, opening up the possibility of having a beautiful game table anywhere in the home. The aesthetics, previously tied to the needs of a commercial market, yields its rigidity to the elegance of an ornamental piece redesigned to compose the interior design of the modern family home.