Bloom tables are a study in opposites: the base is a rugged cedar stump, the top a sleek sheet of resin fused around the wood. They could only be the result of the meeting of two minds.

Crafted by mth woodworks, the tables are the brainchild of life and business partners Michael Thomas Host and Tanja Hinder. When they met in Switzerland seven years ago, he was a Vancouver woodworker travelling the world to hone his craft. She was a Swiss marketing and event manager with a penchant for interior design.

She moved into the latter field when they came to Vancouver, and a year ago, Host launched his own woodworking shop (with the business name based on his ini-ztials). Together, they decided to meld his love for natural West Coast wood and her affinity for sleek Euro design. Functional art that’s as striking in a contemporary room as it is in a traditional or loft setting, the bloom tables have been an instant sensation with buyers at Provide (529 Beatty Street) and via their website.

“We like the effect that it’s growing right out of your floor,” Host says, sitting in the duo’s Kits pad and admiring one of the cantilevered bloom end tables, which has a rounded white surface that looks like an oversized iPod with the waves and grain of the wood fused right into it. “They’re so unique; our clients appreciate that there are no copies.”

The cedar stumps are recovered and sandblasted by Vancouver Island artist John Ross before they come to Host and Hinder to fuse with a natural resin made from peanuts and soybeans—one that took them months of research to find and learn to work with.

“We wanted to keep it as green as possible,” Host explains. “The stumps are salvaged—they come from the beaches and lakeshores of Vancouver Island—and we wanted to keep it the least poisonous as we could.”

Once each unique mould for the tabletop is made, three straight days of sanding the satiny top ensues, as Hinder and Host work their way up to a 1500-grit sandpaper.

“People don’t believe it’s not varnished,” Host says.

“We won’t let it go unless it’s perfect,” Hinder adds.

The stump dictates the shape of the tabletop, which for the moment comes in blues, greys, and white; Hinder and Host are currently experimenting with clear and black resin. For custom orders, they’ll often head to Ross’s barn on the Island to find the right salvaged wood. You can look at—and touch—the bloom tables at IDS West next Thursday to Sunday (October 14 to 17) at the new Vancouver Convention Centre, where mth will have a booth displaying their full range of custom woodwork in the Studio North section. Mth also designs modular salvaged-wood coffee tables with teak inlays; low, sleek credenzas in dark walnut veneer with stainless-steel kickplates; minimalistic benches in black walnut; funky wall-mounted liquor cabinets wrapped in stainless steel; and more.

As for the bloom tables, this kind of intense craftmanship doesn’t come cheap: it’s $3,200 to $4,200 for end tables, and $8,000 to $10,000 for coffee tables.

Hinder has been trying to sell the tables back in Switzerland, but admits that the warmest response has come from here on the West Coast.

“It’s very B.C.—people in B.C. get it right away,” she says.

Or as Host puts it: “In B.C., people can appreciate having a little piece of the rain forest in your home.”