Creating Dining Moments with a King Living Designer

A dining table is more than a piece of furniture. It’s a place for sharing meals, making memories and special moments. That’s certainly the approach we take at King Living when creating dining tables.

Since joining the King Living in-house design team in 2022, Industrial Designer Ryan McGoldrick has worked on creating new dining furniture.

Much of that work has revolved around the Heritage Dining Table – in partnership with Founder David King – the Magnolia Dining Table and Heirloom and Tasman Dining Chairs.

Ryan shares his insights into the development of the latest additions to the dining collection and how they make it easy to create dining moments.

Picturing Ryan McGoldrick who designed the Heritage Dining Table (right) in partnership with Founder David King.

A 100-year table

When designing the Heritage Dining Table, the brief was to create a 100-year table. Ryan explains that the team approached this brief in a number of different ways.

“To start with, the visual design of the table is timeless and minimal,” he explains. “We played around with a heavy looking design that also has a visual lightness with the angled legs.

Featuring the Heritage Dining Table in American Walnut and Heirloom Dining Chair in TrueTouch Wattle and American Walnut.

“The engineering of the tabletop itself was designed so it doesn’t act like real timber anymore. It has the look and feel of timber to emphasise the natural beauty of the materials, but it doesn’t have the same movement as timber.”

The timber top combined with the steel frame makes the Heritage Dining Table a piece of furniture that is incredibly durable to last for generations. It’s a 100–year table.

Featuring the Magnolia Dining Table in Onxy and Tasman Dining Chair in Dark Olive and Onyx.

Grand design with a petite footprint

Where the Heritage Dining Table is a large format design, the Magnolia Dining Table was designed with smaller spaces in mind.

“Magnolia shares a lot of the same design principles and philosophy as the Heritage Table,” explains Ryan. “It’s got the same plywood core and steel frame construction for strength.”

The difference is in the petite footprint, with the Magnolia Dining Table having more slimline legs, curvy edges and a reduced table width.

“Magnolia is a very social table,” adds Ryan. “It’s the smaller format interpretation of the 100-year table that is the Heritage Dining Table.”

The Tasman Dining Chair pairs perfectly with the Heritage Dining Table.

The finer details

What is consistent across both the Magnolia Dining Table and the Heritage Dining Table – or any pieces in the King Living Dining collection – is the attention to detail.

“When we go through the design process, we’re thinking about things like how many chairs can fit around the table with generous spacing for each,” says Ryan. “We also look at things like the treatment of the table on the underside, so no matter which surface you interact with, it feels premium.”

The Heritage Dining Table and Magnolia Dining Table were also the first in the King Living Dining Collection available in the new Natural Oak timber finish.

“Each of our signature timber finishes offer a different look to suit different spaces,” says Ryan. “The new Natural Oak finish is a great option when working with a smaller space. It helps create an open and airy feeling in a room and reflects more light, making a space appear larger and brighter.”

The Heritage Extension Dining Table easily transforms from a 6-seater to 10-seater table.

Adaptable for entertaining

Originally, the Heritage Dining Table was a fixed table. But through the design project, the brief changed to include an extension mechanism.

“There was nothing in the market as big as Heritage that included an extension mechanism,” recalls Ryan. “The result of the project is a beautiful dining table that can pop open, almost like a gigantic leaf.”

The beauty of this is that you have a majestic table that can serve you every day and then extend for gatherings. The softTouch Extension Technology™ enables a seamless transition between table sizes.

“The Magnolia Table is a different proposition for entertaining,” he adds. “It’s more for your smaller groups to create an intimate dining experience.”

The Heritage Extension Dining Table is featured in Natural Oak.

Create your own dining moments with King Living

Shop the King Living Dining Collection and explore furniture that facilitates making moments and memories to last a lifetime.

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