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Odu

desk

Furniture Design

client

2018

Free to edition - University Project - MA I.

Odu

desk

Furniture Design

client

2018

Free to edition - University Project - MA I.

The personal involvement of a fine art artist in the work is almost expected on the part of the recipient. It is as if ​their own story of suffering is a kind of pledge of the ​work's authenticity.

What happens in applied art? Will the object, the furniture, be better, more authentic, more nuanced, more chiseled, if the designer actually designs it for ​their own little self, his childhood personality? If ​they are now able to condense everything ​they​ longed for unspeakably, yearned for, what ​they missed, into the subject? Is the gift a gesture of self-healing to our childhood selves? The psychotherapist says ​it probably ​is.

But from the point of view of the subject, from the point of view of the user, it has little significance, at most as an extra motivating factor to be accounted for. 

Odu is such an object.
"My concept is actually a confession of how I think we should relate to a child to make this difficult stage of life easier for ​them. My goal is to try to reinterpret the system of ideas and proportions that prevail in the genre.", says the designer.

 

The reinterpretation is complex and profound. Its primary message is that it does not allow for infantilization, neither in its proportions, nor in its use of materials, nor in its shape or surface formation. In the meantime, ​it does not consider ​its user to be a small adult, as the modular storage units that can be placed in the ​desk trough can be assigned to ages and life stages, and are even suitable for play and building.

Or just as sensitive a gesture, a subtle reflection on a child’s personality development on a felt screen placed behind / above a wooden body, which allows for ​hiding, the creation ​of private space.

The ​determination of the ​tabletop size is also precise: the balance is delicate, as the ​desk should not be too large and expansive, because it would contradict the (​children's) room size trends of today. 

Not too small, because then it would conflict with another designer's decision that the height of the ​desk is normal, adult scale. The length of the ​tabletop is also suitable for a second chair (parent/friend) in the life of the younger child, whether it is ​playing together or later ​studying together, and then remains a comfortable and single tablespace for the older child/adolescent.

It is a bold decision that the furniture can be placed in an open space, i.e. it breaks with the mandatory wall-mounted installation requirement.

The furniture as a whole is characterized by a subtle, discreet, non-ostentatious, or intrusive attitude, whether it is its ideological, intellectual foundation, or concrete ​formation. A typical example of this is material use. It is obviously a mission for the designer to use materials and objects in their subject matter to provide the richest possible tactile experience for the ​desk owner. The cool grit of the matte, powder-coated steel tube, the silkiness and graphics of the oiled walnut veneer and solid wood, the dull ​weight of the thick felt material ​and its soft and rigid structure at the same time, the hanging leather tabs, or the ​linoleum sheet designed as a protective surface for the tabletop, ​all of them represent an immediate and lively connection, perhaps with the soul of the table itself.

 Because the soul of this object is rich, just like a child's soul.

 

Award:

3rd place (2019) - Arthungry, Budapest - Design category

Designer: Annabella Hevesi

Supervisor: István Juhász, András Kerékgyártó

Implementer: Gábor Bella