Heilstatten Table | 2009 | Up-cycled Metal & Wood
Designed and built with collaboration with Diane Espiritu. As the first industrial designers accepted in the EEA (European Exchange Academy, an annual summer art program based in Germany, we wanted to create a design that was both art-based and functional. The academy is located in a small rural area of Beelitz Heilstatten, near Berlin. This made materials and supplies were very limited. A trip to the hardware store for basic paint ended up taking over half the day. Though the academy supplied some basic power tools, luckily there was an ARC welder as well.
Because of the limited time, tools, and supplies available, we first scavanged the area for what we could use then decide what we can make from them. This was the opposite from what I was used to; to design something first then find materials needed. We were able to find an old hosipital bed frame and wooden shelves. After rough sketches, we cut apart the bed frame and rearranged them to get ideas on what shape can be developed.
The end result is a playful table with a purposely mis-aligned table top. This parallel's the academy's history of taking an old hospital complex (a place for healing) and converting it to an art academy (a place of gathering). We in turn converted a hospital bed (a place for healing) into a coffee table (a place of gathering). Heilstatten roughly translate as "a place of healing".
