This coffee table and table covering, a rug, as is tradition in Holland, belonged to my grandmother, Oma Schipper, who lived most of her life in Rotterdam, but spent some of her last years with Mum, in Alvechurch. It is a very heavy table and beautifully carved. I like to think of all of the cups of coffee and tea that it has held over the years, and the conversations these turbaned sentinels have silently listened to.