Named after the mythical Titan condemned to hold up the heavens on his shoulders, the solid legs of the Atlas table stand strongly as support for the spacious tabletop. The meeting and contrast between the legs and the tabletop is central to the design, where each element exaggerates the other giving the table its distinct presence and brutalist feel. For Atlas, John Astbury has taken inspiration from several influences in architectural history. There are references to porticoes and colonnades, but Atlas builds mainly on the archetypal post-and-lintel construction. Combined with simple geometry, the circle and the square, it is the primary archetypes that together create the table's character and composition.