Prologue:                                                          

Due to the actual situation of the world we highly recommend using a caleidoscope to look at it. Thanks to different points of view and a change of perspective you can live a better life and be a better human being or at least a less selfish one. Like everything, to excel in something you need to train and do exercise, and sometimes even to make a mistake. Here we propose a simple exercise to learn to deconstruct and de-antroposise’                                 

What you need:                                                              

For this particular exercise you will need a table

Why a table : it is a simple object that almost everyone owns. We chose an IKEA table that represents a system where details are erased to simplify the aesthetic of the table and please a wide audience.

If we take the table as a metaphor for society, details can become erased. In the details, there are stories, peculiarity, beauty, diversity, and poetry. For the record, in humanity like in design, there is a danger of losing our singularity. In the standardisation process , those in power choose which codes remain, with a high risk of losing the voice of minorities.

This is the reason why we decided to debate with the IKEA standard table to question a bigger issue.

Again it is our human gaze in front of the object, but we did our best to give space at the table point of view.                                                                            

Ingredients:                                                                      

1 IKEA table (a second hand one, or your own one if you are a victim of the system –sorry!)

1 Screwdriver (ask your neighbour if you don’t have one)

Some spare time

A friend, so you don’t break your back and can have a good conversation.                                             

Process:                                                          

The following process is just a suggestion to start and develop your own creativity. Do not forget to record from where you come and what you’ve been through. If you feel comfortable with it, feel free to take pictures of your own experience.                                       

1. Take the table and put it in your living room, feel it, look at it, talk to it if you feel so and try to imagine what it has gone through and what it wants to be.
2. Once you are able to change your perspective according to the table, you’ll be ready to set it free.
3. Then, be gentle, seize two of its legs with care, and ask your friend to help you put the table on one side. Ask yourself what has changed. Can you feel it ? If necessary, redo step one.
4. With the same care as before, put the table upside down and ask yourself if it’s still a table. Ask it if it’s comfortable. Now that you have saved it from its function, what else could it be?
5. Take a screwdriver, start to take off one table’s leg. Then give it back to it and try to find a new shape together. Look at the new object. (Don’t forget that you can redo step one whenever you want.)
6. Take the screwdriver again, and take off another leg. Now, perhaps the table’s balance is unstable. Do not hesitate to move the tabletop during the process and be careful to not break your back. Remember you have a good friend with you. Now, you may try to look for a different balance, the table will help you to find it, stay connected with it.
7. Redo step 6 until you all feel satisfied. WARNING: this could take time. Then when you’re ready, go to step 8.
8. Now that you have a relationship with the table that’s based on trust, you can go far. You can try to take off all the legs and find new balance and shape. Balance is a complicated state of mind, it could take you some time and effort, be ready to fail, you’ll have to deal with your own frustration and the table’s one as well.
9. The Doubt: what if the table has always wanted to be a table? Can you find its own peculiar way to be it again? As Frank-N-Furter sang it: “don’t dream it, be it”.

Q&A:                                                    

How are you?

Did the exercise change your way of seeing a table? Design? Society? The World? Do you think you are ready to change your perspective on other topics?

What about your friend?                                             

Thank you for following the instructions, we hope it hasn’t been too patronising. If you want to share with us, please send your pictures and impressions at : [email protected]