We thought Tuttobene was strictly a venue for Dutch design, but had a pleasant surprise when we saw that Calgary-based Joel Tobman had also set up at this FuoriSalone exhibition. Two of the designs Tobman was presenting showed much creativity in terms of innovative materials. Guitar strings become the surface of one coffee table, while bog-standard chunks of packing Styrofoam (yep, the kind that cushion large appliances in their boxes) made up the base of another. Precisely the sort of thing that leads to a few questions.

You must be a musician, given the design of the Decon Table you did with Gillian Russell. Although the guitar strings allow the table to function beautifully as a magazine rack and a surface for large, flat items, how do you respond to people who scoff at Decon's functionality?

Indeed I am a musician, though music was not our starting point for the design of the Decon Table. The original intent was to see how much material we could remove from the table's surface while retaining its function and we had the idea to use tensioned strings to accomplish this. The guitar strings were ideally suited to this, since they are strong enough to hold the high tension, attractive, and will stretch a bit rather than fail catastrophically like aramid fibers.

As far as questioning the functionality of the table, I don't think that design is strictly about function and I also think it is important to recognize that function is just as much a grey area as any other aspect of design. A tree stump will function as a seat, so will a Barcelona chair, a monobloc plastic garden chair, or an Aeron Chair. With respect to the Decon Table, it functions like a normal solid surface in the sense that it will support objects; however, there is obviously a difference in the stability of those objects. I think it is fair to say that the table functions differently than a solid surface, but this difference also offers new functional opportunities such as the ability to hang magazines off of the strings.





The coated polystyrene foam used in the Coffee|ps Table gives the impression of a heavy, massive base, but it is much lighter than expected. What is the longevity of these table bases? How do you address the consumer notion that by using this material you are only prolonging its usefulness for a little while?

It's funny, because before I went to Milan I never noticed that spraying the bases black made them look like cast iron, but someone pointed it out and I don't know how I missed it. In any case, as with the functionality of the Decon Table, the goal of this design wasn't strictly sustainability. Certainly, reusing polystyrene foam packaging seems in line with sustainable practice and I would anticipate that the table bases would last a very long time as the sprayed polyurethane is extremely durable and could be easily repaired. On the other hand, bonding two different polymers is potentially problematic in future recycling efforts and so is not particularly sustainable. The initial focus of the design exploration was to highlight the interesting forms and potential inherent in these objects that most people don't even notice and extend the consideration of recycling to include form and not just substance.

As far as the long-term durability, I think this design highlights the fact that when viewed from a broad enough perspective all products are ephemeral. This particular class of object (EPS packaging) has a particularly short lifecycle because these objects themselves are not the focal point; rather, they are designed to temporarily protect another object which is the focus of the consumer's attention. As secondary items they are not something that was meant to last at all, though as waste they do endure - albeit out of sight and out of mind. Making a coffee table out of polystyrene packaging allows for the continued presence of these incidental materials within the same space as the objects they were designed to protect and draws attention to the fleeting nature of all products.





How far will you go with these concepts? Will you work with guitar strings or EPS again in other designs?

Absolutely, I want to continue to expand and refine both of these designs to see how far I can take them. With respect to the guitar strings, as I mentioned earlier, music did not drive the initial design as we were more concerned with pushing the idea of dematerialization. Having arrived at a design that uses tensioned guitar strings and autoharp tuning pegs, the notion of incorporating some aspect relating to music seems like an obvious direction to continue exploration.

I also think that there is a lot more potential in using the expanded polystyrene foam parts. I will certainly continue to explore the process of creating assemblies and coating pieces, but I also want to begin to alter the forms more from their initial state. This is a more challenging process, since the original object has to remain somewhat recognizable in order to maintain the connection to its previous function and there is a fine line between subtly altering their shape and obliterating the existing form. I also want to explore the idea of creating new function by casting the existing form of the foam parts, which would also maintain their recognizability but shift the perception of their value by altering their materiality.





Milan was your first international show. What sort of exposure did you get? Would you do it again? What's next for Joel Tobman Design?

I have visited a few of the European design shows and now having exhibited in Milan myself, I believe even more strongly that it is critical for designers to get out of their studios and show their work. Designers should be careful about working too much within their own bubbles, and shows like the Milan Salone not only offer the opportunity to present your work to manufacturers, designers, and the public, but also a chance to connect with other designers and experience design work from all over the world. The feedback and exposure you can get from exhibiting is invaluable, and personally, I gained a lot of confidence in my design practice from the experience.

On a related note, I think that it is important for North American designers to show in Europe if they can manage it. It might be clichéd to point this out, but it is unquestionably true that the design culture in a place like Milan runs extremely deep, so the opportunity to present your work and gauge the response to it is extremely valuable. Unfortunately, it is a significant expense and (getting on my soapbox here...) there isn't enough support for it. Applying for a group show such as Tuttobene is a great way to make the costs more manageable, but unlike the Dutch government (which subsidized the Tuttobene exhibit), the Canadian government recently cancelled their Trade Routes program, and unfortunately design tends to be too commercial for the arts, and too artistic for business as far as other grant opportunities. That being said, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

+ joeltobman.com