Table-tip

Wood knots cover one table. Another is off balance. A third is made from linoleum lace. Taking their cue from the Latin idiom Tabula Rasa, designers turn the tables on the iconic object to interpret it afresh, as Design School Kolding presents the international exhibition The Tube at the Milan Design Week this April.

HONEY, WE NEED TO TALK! proclaims the opening prayer, bent – literally – in neon inside the 33 metre long exhibition, made up of seven bespoke containers. In each container, a freshly minted Design School Kolding alumna, working closely with leading Danish designer companies, puts forward her personal interpretation of a conversation piece; namely the table.

-We need to have a conversation about how to solve the issues facing the world today. Environmental issues, social inequality, overpopulation. The table is where we sit down and discuss things. Over dinner. During negotiations. At the summit. The table is an icon of conversation. That is what we asked the young designers to interpret in collaboration with selected companies, says Design School Kolding Rector Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen.

The interpretations run the gamut. Working with Danish Horticulture, Designer Stine Weigelt has created ‘Tipping Point’, a table that can turn off-balance by moving the green plant that is a microscopic illustration of a vulnerable ecosystem. The duo of Kvist Industries and Sidsel Søgaard Spas channels the peculiar aesthetics of wood knots in a challenge to popular consumer opinion that wood tables ought not to show branch artefacts. Camilla Skøtt, with Forbo Flooring, breathes new life into a dying craft using new techniques and materials. She has created a table of lace made from the natural material linoleum, supplied by the company. Ecco and Ditte Blohm invite you on an interactive journey of the consciousness. A dramatic, fur-swathed skeleton is the centrepiece of the cooperation between KiCK - Kopenhagen Fur and Solveig Stilling. Anne Halskov designs the encounter between the raw material – the newly fledged designers – and the established company Ambiente. Finally, design partners Carl Emil Jacobsen and Daniel Kowal-Andersen have created a table focusing on Nordic materials and traditional crafting and manufacturing techniques.

The Tube opens its doors in Milan April 14-19 in the Ventura Lambrate zone at the Via Privata Oslavia.
It is the fourth consecutive time that Design School Kolding presents The Tube exhibition during the quintessential event in international design.

Designers: Camilla Skøtt, Ditte Blohm, Sidsel Søgaard Spas, Stine Weigelt, Solveig, Anne Halskov, Carl Emil Jacobsen og Daniel Kowal-Andersen.

Companies: Ambiente, ECCO, Forbo Flooring, Kvist Industries, KiCK - Kopenhagen Fur and Danish Horticulture.

Thank you to Kolding Municipality, The Augustinus Foundation, The Ministry of Higher Education and Science, C&W snijtechniek BV, Marmor & Granit Aps., Økologihaven and Gartnernes Forsikring.

Project Manager: Head of Communications Charlotte Melin, Design School Kolding