You have probably never heard of IXO, or Iconic Xtrem Objects, but the Spanish carbon-fibre prepreg specialists have just completed a collaboration with Bugatti that takes the form of the world's most expensive pool table. It is, by any measure, a mind-blowingly indulgent object.
The construction reads like an exercise in obsessive engineering. The chassis is machined aluminium, held together with titanium screws chosen to prevent galvanic corrosion. The bed is cut from slate sourced from an Italian mine prized for the highest-quality, quartz-free stone, and it is double the thickness of any standard pool table's slate bed. The felt is woven by Iwan Simonis, a textile house founded in 1680 and widely regarded as the finest in the world, which is why it also dresses every world championship billiards table.
The bodywork is formed from blue carbon fibre, and the super-light cues are made from the same material. The balls are Aramid Tournament Pro, the choice of world championships, while a thirteen-inch touchscreen set into the cue rack keeps score automatically thanks to sensors in the pockets. An illuminated, motorised drawer for the balls, chalk and a carbon-fibre triangle is lined in aniline leather.
The pièce de résistance is an optional gyroscopic system built around a solid-state, high-accuracy sensor and four Siemens industrial servomotors, one in each leg. It makes silent, vibration-free adjustments in just five milliseconds to keep the table perfectly level at all times. Useful in an earthquake, perhaps, but more plausibly conceived with megayacht owners in mind. Only thirty will be made, each priced at 300,000 USD.
