iftach gazit casts table and chair collection from a single slab of concrete

iftach gazit casts table and chair collection from a single slab of concrete
(above) table and chairs on top the broken casting mold
all images courtesy of iftach gazit

designed by iftach gazit, ‘a negotiation table’ or AYKA was created as a part of the ‘one to a thousand studio project’ under the guidance of professor ezri tarazi at the bezalel academy of arts and design in jerusalem. each student drew a note from a hat, giving them a starting point to create the project. gazit got one that asked to design a 70 x 70 folding table. the instructions were to make a one of a kind piece with the intent of transforming the idea into a mass produced product.

‘one of the first images that I saw was that of a moving day box from IKEA,’ comments the designer. ‘that box was intended to serve first as a box, later as a table and then thrown away. that cycle of use appealed to me as another way of looking at a folding mechanism. like every global brand, IKEA adjusts fo the local market. I knew I wanted to create something that would make a strong statement about israeli-palestinian politics and culture. I looked for aesthetics in everyday life and found it in concrete. while concrete slabs serve as a barrier between the two countries, concrete casting is something that is shared as the most common building technique in both israel and the palestinian territories.’

the movie plays a vital role in this work

the designer envisioned an absurd situation where someone is trying to load a concrete table into his car, breaking it either in transit or once in the home; this led him to create the one-off table. in order for that to happen, the pieces needed to break with some degree of control. therefore, table and chairs were cast as a single slab of concrete. rebar reinforcement was set in specific places to allow separating the table from the slab into three pieces: separating the table from the chairs and bending the rebar which becomes the back support for the chairs.

even though they don’t appear so, the chairs are stable enough to sit on them

‘AYKA’ is a question that appears in the bible that means ‘where art thou’. in the violent act of breaking the concrete slab, there is a cry for the resurrection of the peace process. more than that, it evokes a wake-up call, like the breaking of the 10 commandments three thousand years ago severed as an alert to the jewish people after they created their false god in the desert.

each chair has unique characteristics

in the back, you can see the real size mock-up that was used to test the concrete break pattern 

during the first lebanese war, people would hang white cloths on the rebar letting the israeli soldiers know that their house was safe

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: juliana neira | designboom