We’ve all seen hearts etched into an old wooden table in a restaurant or a big scratch made on a vinyl that was once borrowed from one’s parents. Aside from their obvious functions, these objects tell tales – most likely of a short story from a moment in time. Designer Tino Seubert works with this idea and created a furniture series called “Forming History” – pieces that are deformed by the imprint of time. One work that stands out in particular is a table titled “End of Vietnam War”. It is based on a photograph taken at the Vietnam conference at the Hotel Majestic in Paris in 1973. The image shows the twelve participating foreign ministers, their translators and consultants with their hands resting on the table with papers and contracts in front of them. The designer captured this very moment and translated it into a shrunk version of this table. The table’s white surface is cut out in the shapes of these hands and papers, allowing you to feel the history with your own hands and become part of it.
Published in Cee Cee #1 on 21.4.2011
