Bronze Fine Arts and Art Installation Design · 2022
Frail World Table
- A' Design Award 2022 Bronze Winner in Fine Arts and Art Installation Design
- Awarded April 15, 2022
- CLIENT: Alexandr Strepetov
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 13,050
- Verification code C24FD3D7DA · Verify this award
About Frail World Table
The Frail World table on wide stable legs from the side looks unshakable, like the universe itself. However, when viewed from above, its thin lines, enclosed in a circle of tabletops, form the symbol Pacific on the fragile glass. Life and peace on Earth look just as fragile from space. When a fragile peace is destroyed by war, it is very difficult to sit down at the negotiating table. But that is the only possible salvation.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The project used the original design of the table-legs. When viewed from above through the glass, the lines of the table-legs, together with the inscription on the top, form the symbol "Pacific".
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Height 174 mm
Diameter 430 mm - Tags
- Frail World, pacific, table, layout, ornament
- Production Technology
- Once I was drawing a graphic work. Suddenly I saw an opportunity to make volumetric dynamic modules of the same shape for unusual furniture. I made a table layout out of painted wood and glass. Then I left this work for a long time. And now, in this dark time, I suddenly realized that if I add an inscription to the glass of the table top, then along with the lines of the table legs, the symbol "Pacific" will turn out.
- Design Challenge
- If a new interesting idea suddenly arises in the process of work, it is usually very difficult for me to switch and make at least a fragment of it a reality. As a rule, such ideas are postponed for a long time along with other sketches of unrealized projects. But the "Frail World" layout was the design that pulled me away from other works and was almost finished. Then I had put it aside for a long period of time. Now I've seen it in a new way. It came as a surprise to me that it contained the potential for important new ideas.
- Project Duration
- Work on the design of the Frail World table was started in September 2016 in St. Petersburg. Then the project was suspended. In March 2022, the design was completed in St. Petersburg.
- Operation Flow
- The idea behind the table 'Frail World' is dualistic. From different points of view, we can see different sides of the world, which are embodied in the object. When viewed from the side, the wide colorful legs of the table are visible. It is a sustainable world with its beauty and diversity. But if you look at 'Frail World' from above, we see fragile glass. This is a symbol of the fact that at any moment the balance in the world can be upset. If so, the world will become unstable and unreliable, it can be broken in an instant. The inscription symbolizes the need to maintain peace in order to preserve the integrity and beauty of the world.
- Research
- I've explored what an artist can get out of a single drawing. Because every work of art has the potential to develop its ideas in a variety of different objects. The only graphic work became the starting point both for the design and ornament of the table, as well as for a number of other objects that are not at all similar to Frail World. This is a rather paradoxical result.
- Inspiration
- Idea of a table came from observing my own artworks and mock-up immediately followed. Main idea is to show fragility of a world embodied in glass. Design is based on a recent events in Ukraine with homage to Gerald Holtom designs, who pioneered peace symbol we all know today. Inability of sitting around broken glass table is a metaphor of a war breaking foundation of the world peace.
- Image Credits
- Image #1: photographer Olga Morozova, Frail world, 2022.
Image #2: photographer Olga Morozova, Frail world, 2022.
Image #3: photographer Olga Morozova, Frail world, 2022.
Image #4: photographer Olga Morozova, Frail world, 2022.
Image #5: photographer Olga Morozova, Frail world, 2022. - Patents
- n/a
Colors of Frail World Table
Grand Interview about Frail World Table
After February 24, 2022, I was arrested at an anti-war protest, and a court date was set. My wife signed an anti-war petition by teachers and was forced to leave her job. During this time, we received immense emotional support from the kind offer by the A' Design Award team to participate in the competition on preferential terms.At that time, I had several almost finished pieces, as well as completed works that had never been exhibited anywhere but were finished more than two years prior. I had to quickly decide which work to submit for the competition, as there was only one month left before the deadline. While contemplating this choice, I was in the process of finishing a metal bench, but my wife suddenly noticed that the outline of a table model resembled Gerald Holtom's Pacific peace symbol. To complete the resemblance, it only lacked one line, which could be added as an inscription on the glass. The relevance of such a design made the choice of work for the A' Design Award unmistakable.
I will probably disappoint you because the idea of using glass in the Frail World table model emerged long before the name and its conceptual idea were born. I simply felt sorry to hide the structure and ornamentation of the legs under an opaque tabletop. It turns out that a powerful metaphor was prepared by chance.
Before March 2022, the table was, for me, more of a realization of my aesthetic inspiration, but after its transformation into Frail World, it acquired a thought-provoking anti-war resonance.
To enhance the overall structural rigidity of the table, it would probably have been more reasonable to use a lower frame, sequentially connecting the legs in a circular design with a single detail. Most likely, it would have been convenient to rest one’s feet on it while sitting at the table. However, I abandoned this idea because such a detail would have significantly disrupted the harmony of the legs. The solution I chose required reinforcing individual refined joints, for which regular wood was no longer suitable. Metal, plastic, or plywood were appropriate for this task. I chose and used plywood.
My research was a polemic against the existing one-sided view of certain works of art—when inspiration is confined within the rigid framework of scientific systematization, akin to The Origin of Species in biology.For me, art, the creative works of humanity, are not dead, fossilized bones of prehistoric animals. Even in objects made by people thousands of years ago, there is a living energy capable of inspiring others to create new works. Essentially, they remain alive as long as humanity exists; they are part of the breath of human culture.One can view a work of art through the lens of the past, analyzing the movements and styles from which it emerged. Alternatively, one can perceive infinity in it, discovering ever-new inspiring ideas for the future.The pure aesthetics of the original design, unburdened by additional meanings, expands the freedom of choice for themes that can be drawn from it. However, in such cases, it often serves as an initial impulse for inspiration and might never acquire philosophical or social significance. I was inspired to create the table model by the beauty of the ornament's dynamic design. Afterward, this model sat gathering dust in my workshop without a name for six years until external circumstances pushed me to its final conceptual and aesthetic completion. It could have happened that the table remained merely a decorative piece with an arbitrary name. Or I could have given it four legs instead of three (a choice I had considered), leading me down an entirely different path.It seems rational and correct to base design initially on philosophical, social, or other meaningful ideas that inspire creativity. However, I doubt I would have come up with something like the Frail World table if I had strictly followed that principle.The process of transformation from a 2D creation into volume and functionality is something rather routine for me. At this point, it's hard for me to pinpoint when or how it might have influenced my approach to design.
The dimensions of the Frail World table are related to the fact that it is a scaled-down model. I was unable to create this piece in full size on my own, while the model required minimal time and resources.
I like to think that the understanding of simple communication as a precious gift of peaceful times, along with the feeling of the fragility of our peaceful happiness, should be conveyed to those sitting in front of such a symbol.When someone's aggression tests the "glass" of our peaceful communication, we ourselves become the subject of this test, and not everyone manages to endure it without losing their dignity.
The Pacific symbol became an improvisation, and I didn’t have to deliberately work on aligning the structure with this symbol, as it emerged spontaneously.
One of the lines of the Pacific symbol, unlike the colored supports, is applied to the glass. If we imagine the glass being shattered, the table would not only become unusable for negotiations, but with the loss of the line on the glass, the symbol of peace itself would disappear.
It’s hard for me to imagine the impact of this work in the future. What matters more is that the Frail World table demonstrates that the language