Honey, we need to talk

The table is made from the planks of a single oak tree. However, on one side the table is raw, unprocessed and filled with knots and cracks. On the other side the planks have been carefully processed and appear perfect. All the way between the two planks there is a metal frame with postcards that encourage you to start a conversation. ’Designers don’t read books’, one of them says. Another card shows a tattoo that reads ’very sustainable’ and plays on the double meaning of the word ’sustainable’, to sustain and to perish.

The table is part of the exhibition The Tube that Design School Kolding is currently showing during the Milan Design Week, and the creator of the table is 27-year-old Sidsel Søgaard Spas who is a trained communication designer from Design School Kolding.

- Design students made the postcards and I want to invite the spectators to have a loving conversation about serious topics because I believe that open dialogue can transform you, explains Sidsel Søgaard Spas.

She has designed the table herself but has left the craftwork to her collaboration partner Kvist Industries.

The beautiful flaws
The serious topics partly involve the role of the designer and where design is going, but also soaring ones like sustainability.

- Kvist Industries always utilises the full potential of the wood, and it was important to me that the two table tops came from one single tree. I’ve never worked with wood before but I wanted to create a piece of furniture that fully discloses the potential of the material and that flaws – knots and cracks – can indeed be beautiful, says Sidsel Søgaard Spas.

This year, the thematic headline for The Tube is the table, and Sidsel Søgaard Spas’ title ’Honey, we need to talk’ is bent in neon inside the container, which functions as the exhibition’s “war room”.

- Working with Kvist Industries has been incredibly exciting. I’ve never worked with wood before and I hope the table will make the spectators reflect on what design can do and how we utilise Earth’s resources, Sidsel Søgaard Spas ends.

Facts
Sidsel Søgaard Spas has worked as a curator’s assistant with Superobjekt Gallery in Copenhagen and will soon be marketing coordinator for the children’s film festival Buster. She is also a writer and opinion editor for the online magazine magazinealterego.com which writes about young people, creativity, art and design.