THE EDIT.

On the Diagonal

By Rose Apodaca | June 13, 2019

What happens when design industry colleagues gather after hours for a friendly game of 8 ball?

To mark the worldwide launch of Diagonal, the streamlined pool table by Yonoh for RS Barcelona, last Thursday at A+R, the rousing eve engendered strangers to quickly become friends and the reticent to reveal their shark-like alter egos.

Players hailed from Gensler, Tangram, Okidoki, Wrk-Shp, Studio RitzRabin, MASHstudios and other design studios around LA. And experience level be damned. It all came down to verve—and a shot or 2 of IPA—for these intrepid competitors to prove they could be the one to take top title of champion (and the $500 A+R gift card).

Fueled on crudité and charcuterie, each player wielded the Dufferin Canadian Maple pool cue like a champ. Amicable wrangling over the rules was only part of the spirited exchange that filled the showroom—to be forever AKA Club A+R.

That’s because pool wasn’t the only game on tap that evening. A bright yellow Foosball Table had also just arrived from RS Barcelona days before the event, and proved a favorite among revelers waiting their turn at the Diagonal.

Outside in A+R’s patio, the Spanish brand’s signature You+Me Ping Pong Table took a walloping under the string lights illuminating the midnight blue sky.

A rollicking 2 and a half hours into the match, the victors emerged: runner-up Paul Rinis (there with FiveNineDesign’s Allyn Davis) scored a gleaming silver Wall Champion wall hook courtesy of RS Barcelona; and the crown—along with the A+R gift card—went to graphic designer David Evans.

Calls throughout the night to make game night a regular happening at A+R were heard loud and clear. Stay tuned…