Zen Table: Japanese rock garden and robotic Zen priest

With no water, Japanese rock gardens - also known as "dry landscape" or "Zen" gardens - feature an area of gravel or sand that is designed to symbolize the sea, ocean, rivers or lakes.


The act of raking the sand or gravel into patterns is practiced by Zen priests to help their concentration and has even found its way into offices with pint-sized desktop units for those looking to clear their minds at work.

If you think your mind is clear enough already, are after a bit more variety from your raked sand designs and like your Zen in a table form factor then the Zen Table ticks all the boxes.

The brainchild of San Clemete-based inventor Simon Hallam, the Zen Table is essentially a tempered glass-topped table with a Japanese rock garden - minus any rocks - and a robotic Zen priest trapped inside.


Instead of sand or gravel, the Zen table features a layer of microscopic silicone beads, underneath which is a sculpting head attached to a robotic mechanism driven by electric motors that move the head along the X- and Y-axes to carve the grooves into the beads and create patterns and images.

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