DESIGN NAME: Dining Table Café 6116
PRIMARY FUNCTION: Dining table
INSPIRATION: Visiting a local pub, where Persian carpets were on the table, aroused the interest in this phenomenon. This hand-made product is undervalued. The magnificent colours, the wonderful patterns that can never be labelled as ‘out-dated’! The pictures of the Dutch Masters of the golden age where the Persian carpets were in, gave an extra boost.
UNIQUE PROPERTIES / PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Ferdinand Bol and Rembrandt van Rijn captured them in the 17th century portraits of aristocrats. In the 20th century, the Persian carpets on top of the table emerged to the average households and disappeared in the nineties. The contemporary collection Cafe 6116 is inspired on this.
The full collection contains a dining table, three coffee tables and floor tiles in which actual Persian carpets are processed. That carpets carry memories and secrets in them. Those memories are captures. The construction comes in two colours; anthracite steel and a hand polished bronze.
OPERATION / FLOW / INTERACTION: This design shows the productlifecycle of Persian carpets. First, it is only available for tradesmen and aristocrats, which imported them in the 17th century. After some time, the product is available to a bigger audience and then popularity decreases. With this design, it is upgraded again to the level of the 17th century, to start a new product life cycle.
Also this design allows people to keep their memories to a deceased family member or a event which left a mark in the carpet.
PROJECT DURATION AND LOCATION: It took a year to complete the design: October 2015 to October 2016. I exhibited it at the Dutch Design Week (October 2016) and during Salone del Mobile in april 2017. It is now to be seen in different galeries in Europe and in the Red Dot Design Museum in Essen.
In 2018, it got a new execution: with a solid bronze frame.
FITS BEST INTO CATEGORY: Furniture Design
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PRODUCTION / REALIZATION TECHNOLOGY: When the idea was born to use carpets in a table top, I started experimenting on how this could be done. It took me about 6 months to figure out how to use epoxy on it without getting bubbles of air in it and how to get a super smooth surface.
SPECIFICATIONS / TECHNICAL PROPERTIES: Height 750mm
Dimensions table top 2200 x 970 mm
TAGS: cafe 6116, ruben van megen, upcycling, dutch design
RESEARCH ABSTRACT: Research of the design was done on material (to get the carpets in the table top) and on the frame. The frame is made out of sheet steel but is so perfect, it looks like cast iron. The bronze frame is so perfectly polished, it looks like gold. The frame encloses the table top to have a perfect finishing.
CHALLENGE: The creative challenge was how to design a modern frame for an oldfashioned product like a Persian carpet. The goal was to design a modern product. Research challenge on the Perian Carpets and how they can be used speaks for itself.
ADDED DATE: 2017-08-01 20:03:13
TEAM MEMBERS (1) : Jeske van Gerven
IMAGE CREDITS: All pictures: Petra Lenssen Photography
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