Dancing Tables by Joel Escalona
Mexican designer Joel Escalona will be exhibiting his Dancing Tables at the 2009 International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York. They will be featured as part of the ICFF Studio, which was conceived as a way to help young and promising designers with prototypes hook up with the ICFF’s manufacturer attendees.
Escalona’s tables are inspired by Mexican traditional dances and dresses.
From Joel Escalona:
The goal was to design something inspired by culture and folklore, in this case Mexican’s. In a place with such a variety of colors and folklore like Mexico, is very difficult to take all and combine it in one piece, so I look at some of our dresses and colors and try to capture the shapes made by dresses in movement in order to design the Dancing Table.
Visit Joel Escalona’s website – here.
Kelley Brookline on 23 Apr 2009 at 9:01 pm #
I love it.
So playful and fun. They would look good in a young girls bedroom.
Jon York on 23 Apr 2009 at 9:08 pm #
I don’t really care for this design, looks like candy wrappers. Good designed furniture looks good 30 years or more later.
This design doesn’t have that kind of staying power. It wii look ridiculious 2 to 3 years from now,people will say, “you mean somebody actually put that crap on the market.”
JY
Kelley Brookline on 24 Apr 2009 at 12:21 am #
Jon, there’s almost nothing more arrogant than people who say that something is not good just because it doesn’t suit their personal taste.
These are limited edition tables, this is not for the mass market. It should be obvious that the designer was not trying to create something that appeals to everyone. Maybe they will only appeal to 10% of people, but that’s OK, because that is who these tables were designed for. 30 years from now, these tables will look good to the same minority of people who think they look good today. Just because these tables don’t look good to you, doesn’t mean they don’t look good to anyone.
Learn to appreciate the world of design, where people try to do new things. Those things don’t always appeal to everyone, but that doesn’t mean they’re crap. Not everyone has the same taste as you or me, and that’s a good thing, because it makes the world an interesting place.
mark on 24 Apr 2009 at 10:29 am #
I dont understand it, why do we need some kind of sculpture that try to be design and a design that tries to be an sculpture? doesnt satisfy any of those fields. I dont see any function really achieved, or any valuable “style” or movement on it…
i just can´t justify the existence of this kind of design anymore.
Kelley Brookline on 24 Apr 2009 at 12:20 pm #
We need it because it makes life interesting. Do you want everything to be the same? Do you want there to be only one accepted table design in the world, and all others should be banned?
The function of this table, besides the obvious function of simply being a table, is that it evokes people’s emotions. For me, it’s fun and playful, just like the traditional Mexican dances and dresses that the designer says it was inspired by. This table makes me happy, that’s an important function, wouldn’t you agree?
We also need it because it’s part of the wonderful process of innovation. Humans are constantly trying to create new things, to push the boundaries of what we already have. It’s the very reason that humans are as advanced as we are. We try new things, we put new ideas out there, we experiment with things like art, design, technology, and medicine. Humans do a bunch of crazy stuff, and as a result, we occasionally make incredible breakthroughs that advance culture. Along the way, we create a lot of wierd and bizarre stuff too, but that’s all part of the process.
Avoid being a closed minded person who demands that people stop doing things, simply because it doesn’t suit your personal taste and/or you don’t understand it.
Steve on 24 Apr 2009 at 12:39 pm #
Mark, the designer made the end of the tabletop wavy, therefore you can’t justify its existence? Are you serious? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?
mark on 26 Apr 2009 at 11:42 am #
thats the insteresting part Kelley, that this is not new at all, how you can call this innovation?, where the most important function and use is sacrificed just because a desire of one, leaving out the entire meaning of the piece itself. You can achieve expression, emotions and desires without sacrificing anything; that´s the value that i dont see in this design. Is ok to try new ways, new ideas, but please, dont show off ideas that doesnt help us to evolve, that doesnt answer any important question, that only express a selfish desire. If you are into that, design is not the field that you are looking for. We dont need more gadgets, more irresponsable designs, more stuff without a meaning, not now, not anymore.
Ana on 26 Apr 2009 at 11:44 am #
I agree with Mark, come on guys, this is only “press material to be published”; not to be in the market, at home. Do we really need it? at least not me.
Kelley Brookline on 26 Apr 2009 at 3:52 pm #
Mark, I don’t think you understand how innovation works. You don’t get to go from one great thing to another without trying a lot of weird and bizarre things along the way. If you want innovative things in the future, you must accept this as part of the process.
Many of the most amazing developments and innovations in human history, happened because someone simply tried something strange and different that had never been tried before. They get an idea, then they explore that idea, and they see what results from it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s all part of the process of innovation. To make advancements, you need to have a lot of failures.
Will this table cure cancer? No, but it is part of the same process of innovation that will someday. Learn to embrace the beauty of the process. Stop having such a closed mind. Stop trying to prevent people from simply trying different things, because those different things have a way of sometimes resulting in greatness.
By the way, it obviously has not occured to you that maybe this table actually has MORE function than regular tables. I’ve already mentioned the emotional function of this table, but maybe there are even more functions? Maybe the wavy ends of the table have the function of preventing people from placing a glass too close to the end, so it doesn’t accidentally get knocked off by someone passing by? Or maybe the wavy ends create a more comfortable place to rest your forearm on the table?
Whatever function you think this table might sacrifice, it gains at least one more different function as a result, and maybe more. Maybe regular tables are inferior to this table because they are lacking these functions?
Or maybe some innovation took place when the designer was creating this table and solving the problem of how to manufacture the ends of the table so that they would be wavy. Maybe the designer created a whole new method of creating wavy things, a method that will go on to have incredible applications in construction and engineering?
Shinseo Yagima on 26 Apr 2009 at 5:33 pm #
I don’t see much sacrifice of function. You can sit at it. You can put a plate on it.
You people make it sound like it’s not capable of functioning as a table at all.
Ben on 26 Apr 2009 at 8:09 pm #
I like to see ideas like this that I’ve never seen before. I think it’s creative. Most people would never think to make the ends of a table all ruffled like that, and even if they did, they wouldn’t know how to make it.
Dolma Paradis on 27 Apr 2009 at 12:05 am #
These tables still function as tables, so how are they sacrificing their primary function?
The tables still perform their most important function, while also acheiving other functions, such as being fun to look at. They’re a good design for the right environment, like a café or something like that.
Sullivan on 27 Apr 2009 at 7:41 am #
I like the tables. They’re an eye catching design.
Ainsley McRoberts on 27 Apr 2009 at 9:12 am #
mark, the designer’s website says it’s a limited edition. No matter how bad you think the design is, they’re not producing very many of them anyways, so why do you care so much?
German Deheza on 03 Jul 2009 at 1:11 am #
In my humble opinion, this a very appealing design, that is a of course the most difficult task when trying to innovate. This just needs a bit of “polishing” on the functional side, for example, Joel should try and take a dive on the ergonomics of the table top, dividing the “waves” on the table top as for the distance between the guest’s arms. Therefore you get to rest your forearms on the table in the right posture for eating. Et voila, you’ll get a perfectly functional and visually appealing piece of furniture.
You negative people should concentrate on how things could be better and appreciate designers’ initiatives. Stop criticizing randomly without intelligent fundamentals.
Kudos for my fellow Mexican.