An object that explains itself and the natural properties of the material it is made of. Bamboo canes do not have a constant section. They naturally taper from bottom to top. Bamboo canes can also be pre-formed, a common practice in societies where bamboo is an essential part of their culture: a form of certain geometry is attached to growing culms so that their section, when they become mature canes, can be shaped at will. This bamboo table is built with bamboo canes of a square, rather than circular, section. The process of sanding them into regular squares all the way through has uneven consequences because of the tapering: it keeps the lower part of the cane solid, but eats away part of the top part, leaving only a few fibers in the edges, a bamboo geometric skeleton. That is why the table is solid in one side and slowly loses its materiality toward the opposite side. No doubt this object is a design pirouette of sorts: it is well crafted but unfunctional. Its main virtue is that it tells the story of how it was made rather elegantly and subtly. It also explains several properties of the material it is made of very effectively. Can the function of an object be telling a story? Is that enough to legitimize it? Is this table about bamboo education or about craftsmanship? Is it a designed object –in terms of authorship- or is it a highly developed anonymous object?
