An Object’s Journey: Table=Chest by Tomoko Azumi
Table=Chest, Beech veneered plywood, solid Beechwood, chromed brass hinges. Tomoko Azumi, 1995. Photo: Sylvain Deleu
This exhibition sets out to collect stories about Tomoko Azumi’s Table=Chest, from the ideas behind its making, to the reasoning behind its acquisition for public and private collections, to an overview of the numerous exhibitions it has featured in over the years.
Tomoko Azumi first showed Table=Chest at her Royal College of Art degree show in 1995. Designing furniture with multiple uses was a popular idea in the 1990s and the piece is an outstanding example of this thinking. Unlike most folding furniture, which can only be used in one position and folds to be stored, the Table=Chest is useful in both its positions. Upright, the chest resembles a conventional and modestly sized storage unit. Only its hand holes and hinges give a clue to the simple but ingenious transformation by which it unfolds to create a low table without upsetting the level of the drawers.
A Table=Chest prototype was acquired for the Crafts Council Collection in 1995. Azumi’s emphasis on cabinet-making skills to produce the piece has helped blur the distinction between craft and design – a driving factor in the Crafts Council’s decision to acquire the work for the Collection. The piece is held in other public collections, notably those of the Victoria and Albert Museum and Geffrye Museum. Also available to the private collector, it is in production in Japan and Switzerland. Table=Chest has been displayed in numerous exhibitions, most recently in the Super Contemporary show at the Design Museum in June-October 2009.
Play the video below for a short film on Azumi’s inspiration for making Table=Chest.
To view images and anecdotes about the collections, exhibitions and homes that Table=Chest features in, visit the Blog. We aim to collect as many stories as possible about the piece’s journey and welcome contributions.
Do you have a story to tell about Table=Chest?
Please contact s_turner@craftscouncil.org.uk.
www.tnadesignstudio.co.uk
Videos
The Crafts Council commissioned Uniform to produce this film.
Photography by Sylvain Deleu
