the whole elements studio's collection of fossils to be presented at milan design week

polish design studio the whole elements’ ‘fossils’ collection refers to the fossil formation process and, therefore, to the creation of a trace of organic matter in a stone. the furniture and ceramics have been created by a double repetition of the process in two different materials — wood and clay.

all images © emilia oksentowicz

the table ‘fossil #1’ is a scaled-up representation of a fossil, made of oak wood. the openings in the tabletop are designed to set the tableware — the shapes of the individual pieces of crockery match specific openings.

the ‘body fossil’ set was made by pushing and pressing clay into these hollows. individual vessels are, on the one hand, the negative of the imprinted fossil and, on the other hand, a primitive reflection of a gesture. the objects so created resemble fragments of a human body and, as they do not have a standard vessel form, they force the user to reconsider the body-object relationship; they encourage to rediscover the gesture of grasping, bringing to the lips, putting in or taking out.

the whole elements’ replaceable tableware is available in several variants, differing in size and height in relation to the tabletop. the user can change the setting of the dishes by assigning them a function and adapting them to different openings depending on their needs.

video by  the whole elements

the fossils collection includes a hand-carved coffee table and a set of wall shelves with ceramic tableware, as well as a cabinet and a hand-woven kilim rug. the pieces will be presented at salone satellite, salone del mobile milano, booth a37 during milan design week 2018.

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: maria erman | designboom