Like anyone born in 1980, I have the proper reverence for anything that changes color with fluctuations in temperature. However, I'm not entirely sure I'd like an entire dinner party to see my butt print in all its hypercolor glory..
The new Thermochromic Table by Jay Watson, featured on Neatorama, is available for £850 (that's $1367.48). It is a massive table made in the UK of solid black oak, painted with thermochromic paint. Did you know there was such a thing? What would you paint? Would a table and seating be on your list?
I think the color-changing effect on the table might be extraordinary and ghostly. I'd especially like to see the rings left behind by glasses throughout the meal: I love the look of wine and coffee rings, and this would allow the rings to change and evolve and layer, without any damage to tabletop or linens. As dishes are passed around, they too would leave their shadow behind. I think my ideal use would be to load this table up with everything for a feast (Thanksgiving, say), let it all rest for a few moments, then remove everything and take an overhead photo. It could be very cool. Overall, I'd take the table, but would skip the bench. My butt print is nobody's business but my own.
(Image: Jay Watson Design via Neatorama via AnOther)
Ellen's Thirties Style Small Space
Juan's Garage Turned Modern Guest House
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Commercial Flour Sa...
10 Picnic-Ready Salads to Eat Outside
Recipe: Thai Ginger Chicken Stir-Fry
That table is about as useful as teaching math to a koala.
Funny thing about the butt print. I don't like the look of the bench or I'd be all for that, actually. It would bring an element of humor to dinner parties. However, I'd prefer a few well constructed chairs and quite possible a prettier table too. The black rectangle just isn't for me, either. But I giggle at the butt print, elbow print, hand print and drunken cheek print possibilities!
How cheeky! Now, if it could print out copies of the butt prints...it'll give the office copier a run for it's money
never another cocktail napkin sketch...just draw on the table, quickly.
Great idea, Mary E... how about just the table with regular chairs? Then you get the fun of the arm and food prints without the embarrassment of the butts. (Plus, you know someone will jump up and sit on the table for fun... so it's a voluntary thing rather than something guaranteed to embarrass the heavier members of your party.)
Ewwwww.
Perfect example of awesome in theory, but not-so-awesome in execution.
That said, the table is pretty cool. I agree with everyone's opinion on different chairs!
Please do moderate if this comment is inappropriate-- my apologies--
but I cannot be the only one who immediately wanted to have sex on this table? I mean, hello?
And like the 'mood ring' I had eons ago, soon enough this will become a muddy black static reminder of what it was when it used to work. Whatever.
Looks like the monolith in 2001, A space odyssey...
this is making me wish i still owned my hypercolor t-shirts! i should check e-bay to see if they still sell those sweet things...
@jess13 - You do realize it IS still a table, you know, to eat at, work at, and sit around, right?
I agree that it would be fun to have the ghosts of dinner linger, but the overall shape of the table is off-putting to me, and comfortable chairs seem much more practical than that bench. Fun concept, though!
This reminds me of that stuff they spray in crime scenes that shows all the traces of blood and what have you in the room. Kinda icky on a dining table. And the butt prints seem sadistic unless all your diners are happy with the size of their butts (not likely).
I would be eating standing up if this were my seating option.
Imagine getting up from the table and discovering just how much of a wide ass you really are. Don't think I'd want to sit until the previous person's 'mark' faded away. Oddest quirk of mine; can't stand to sit in a chair or other spot that has been recently 'warmed' by someone else.
This is horrifying.