At first glance, the long, narrow table with two attached benches looks like it would be most at home in a beer garden. Concealed inside the black box, however, is an extendable scissor construction and a roll-up mechanism that allows it to be elongated from 0.5 to 5 meters. Whether a party of two or a gathering of twelve, the flexible length of the table makes it easy to enlarge or reduce the size of a group. Its design is reminiscent of the 1927 Table Extensible by the designer Charlotte Perriand. Produced by Cassina, her table, which could be used either as a dining table or a desk, could be extended up to three meters using slide-in panels on special runners.
Tabula Rasa is a prototype, which means that it was not created in series production, but as an advanced, functional design model—the last step in the design process before the final, mass production. The furniture company Vitra later produced twenty examples, which today fetch prices between 20,000 and 30,000 euros at design auctions. The company OWO sold these tables for 17,800 euros. Originally intended to foster a feeling of community, Tabula rasa has instead turned into an expensive collector’s item. It is also worth asking whether this beer garden arrangement, although expandable, excludes people: Where, for example, is there room for people with disabilities? And wouldn’t a round table better set the stage for a conversation among equals? Is the space between the table and bench big enough or, conversely, perhaps too small?
Tabula Rasa’s primary intention, however, is not to be functional. Its special significance unfolds above all in the imagination and through mental associations. The title Tabula Rasa is a Latin phrase meaning “a clean slate.” Here, things are cleared up and misunderstandings are resolved. Tabula Rasa makes sitting together—as a metaphor for community and as a social act—visible.
Designers Uwe Fischer and Achim Heine founded the GINBANDE design group in 1985 and it remained in existence until 1995. Thanks to its experimental designs based primarily on social constructs, GINDBANDE is one of the most important representatives of concept design in Germany.