The Mercedes-Benz of Conference Tables
A monumental sapele mahogany boardroom table created for Arthur Blank and the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United offices at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
A table for the room where big decisions happen.
Before Mercedes-Benz Stadium opened to the public, Rustic Trades was invited to create the centerpiece for Arthur Blank’s boardroom—a conference table for the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United leadership teams.
We also made several desks and tables for the organizations’ stadium offices. For our Atlanta workshop, the assignment felt larger than a single commission. It was a chance to contribute to a place the city was waiting to experience, and to build something lasting for two teams that mean so much to Atlanta. It remains one of the landmark projects behind our work creating custom tables in Atlanta.
One continuous form, engineered in sections.
The elliptical table was designed to command a large boardroom without overwhelming it. Its warm mahogany surface, crisp stainless-steel line and dark industrial base balance executive refinement with the strength and energy of the stadium itself.
The anticipation was everywhere.
Walking through the stadium before it opened to the public was unforgettable. The building was still becoming itself, but its ambition was already clear: a new home for the Falcons and Atlanta United, and a new stage for the city.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium opened in August 2017. In the years that followed, it welcomed championship games, Atlanta United crowds and major national events—including the College Football Playoff National Championship, MLS Cup and Super Bowl LIII. The stadium’s impact quickly reached beyond football; during its first Atlanta United season, it also became the setting for a then-MLS single-game attendance record. Read the stadium’s account of that opening-era weekend.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium exterior. Photo: BullDawg2021, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Built in four sections. Read as one table.
The top surface uses top-grain sapele mahogany veneer, arranged to make the elliptical field feel expansive and continuous. A stainless-steel inlay traces the inner perimeter, while five-inch angled bands of solid mahogany form the substantial sculpted edge.
Below, a custom industrial base was powder-coated matte black. The top traveled through the stadium in four sections and the base in two, allowing every component to clear the building’s route and then lock into a unified composition in the boardroom.
From the Atlanta workshop to the stadium boardroom.
The four-part top was fitted as a complete assembly in the shop before delivery. That full-scale rehearsal let us refine the ellipse, align the veneer, set the solid mahogany banding and confirm the industrial base long before the final four-hour installation.
Fifty-five seconds behind the build.
Making the Mercedes-Benz Stadium table
Furniture for the teams behind the teams.
The boardroom table was the centerpiece, but it was not the only Rustic Trades piece made for Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
We created several additional desks and tables for the Falcons and Atlanta United offices. Together, the pieces helped bring warmth, craft and an unmistakably local story into the working spaces behind the stadium’s public stage. We were thrilled to be trusted by Arthur Blank and both organizations—and proud to feel that our team had played a small part in something special for Atlanta.
A moment our team still remembers.
The table was assembled, aligned and ready for the room. Before we left, we took one last picture—three craftsmen inside a stadium the rest of Atlanta had not yet seen.
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