The client asked for a communal table for a cafe situated within a high end fashion store. The concept of the shop was developed during COVID, at a time when physical retail stores were closing enmasse, and people were locking down in home quarantine. It felt like the idea of gathering at a cafe or visiting your favourite shop, which months before was normal, became suddenly aspirational. Design and architecture responded to COVID in dramatic and pessimistic terms, with the erection of barriers and physical distancing. I felt like design could more elegantly solve the issues facing the COVID pandemic and I looked for inspiration to how designers responded to the pandemics of the past. The Aalto Table is the result of that desire and an approach to design as remedy--to spark joy, foster community and reconnect with nature.
Using organic forms for object design is not new, but having organic forms literally grow out of objects is uncommon. Instead of seeing nature as a separate element to interior design (e.g., using indoor plants as decoration), the Aalto Table directly integrates greenery. The plants are not merely decoration, but an architectural--almost structural--element of the table itself. The pots serve as the table legs and the entire structure (including the plants) is an integrated object. The table is intended to seamlessly bring the outdoors, inside.
