Furniture with an identity

"We asked ourselves what the legs of a lounge table needed to be like in order for someone to find it attractive," says Claudia Kleine. She and Jörg Kürschner manage Formstelle, an office for spatial, product and concept design. Zeitraum commissioned the two designers to create a large lounge table with flat free forms and in two different heights. They came up with "KUYU", whose sculptural legs are located close to the edge of the tabletop so that it only juts out slightly over them. The top is supported by three legs, individual in shape while creating a harmonious whole. The legs are characterized by a clear edge in the middle, which tapers off freely into the surface and produce a highly sculptural form. The profiles of the legs and tabletop are softly rounded. Depending on the angle, they appear either narrow and delicate or flat and striking.

"We always take a specific motif as a starting point for our design. In the case of ‘KUYU’ we opted on a sculptural design that recalls an African wooden mask," says Kleine. Before arriving at this strong expression, the duo created numerous model studies from drawings on paper then in foam through to the first versions in wood. "We came up with a reduced archetypal shape and translated it into sophisticated artisanship," says Kürschner. The tabletops are available in different versions from geometric shapes such as circle or square through to free forms. Thanks to the two heights, different shapes can be combined and overlapped to create textures and forms so that the result is both spacious and space saving. If varied color contrasts are required it is possible to combine different woods, such as white ash and walnut or to rely on the nuanced wood stains by Zeitraum. "‘KUYU’ is furniture with an identity and expression," summarizes Claudia Kleine. And they are already thinking of expanding the "KUYU" collection for Zeitraum: "In future a dining table could complement the table family," says Jörg Kürschner. (am)