Output details

Free Range Tables - 10 tables

One half of the design partnership El Ultimo Grito, which was awarded the London Design Medal (2012), Roberto Feo’s research is concerned with the development of artefacts and exhibition concepts through innovative design approaches, informed by a combination of philosophical, sociological, scientific approaches. Free Range Tables, an evolving series of artefacts (ten to date), explores the relationship between hand making, low-quality materials, the guise of finishing and an aesthetic of ‘family’ association linking the group of artefacts. The table, as a generic type-object, offers the basic research context. Table forms are hand fashioned from discarded cardboard. Load-bearing functionality is tested through iterative processes of material layering until the required degree of rigidity is reached. The ‘additive’ and ‘corrective’ nature of the process informs the shape and structural capacity of the table.

Fibreglass tape binds the cardboard into the table form, and provides a smooth surface for the application of the resin coating. This glossy high-quality finish ensures the integrity of construction and simultaneously denies appreciation of the skill in the making, as the ordinariness of the lowly material core is transformed into a striking yet familiar silhouette.

The variable fabrication process determines the visual similarity between the table objects and demonstrates that a process of hand making involving iterative correction to the design can yield aesthetically linked objects. Variability in the making process is usually acknowledged as a virtuoso interaction between craftsperson and material, resulting in the highly valued ‘one of a kind.’ Feo’s research engages with this concept through non-standard seriality in design, variable hand making, and low-end material and manufacturing processes.

Exhibitions include: Waste Not Want It, Bloomberg, London, 9 November 2013–January 2014; Curious Minds, Museum of Israel, 16 December 2011–30 April 2012, and Power of Making, The V&A, London, 6 September 2011–2 January 2012.