Come Together

In a multicultural society, how do you get everyone to gather around the same table? By making a really big one, Hans Meiboom decided. So far, his two-kilometre-long Table de Ville exists only on paper. But Meiboom can already picture the table, which people will be able to use for eating, for debating, or even as a catwalk.

At Studiomeiboom, the motto is ‘Form Follows Idea’. "Especially these days, when we live in the midst of a profusion of communication possibilities, and in addition to that the rate of turnover of products and services is so high, it’s necessary to offer people a moment to reflect," says Meiboom, 41. "Not through a certain cultural or political movement, but through an independent critical attitude. This is how you can bring in the solutions that are best suited to a problem – develop ideas that lead to the best means of communicating as well as surprise people. To me it’s important always to involve various people in doing that. I’m a sort of project leader, trying to get things off the ground with others."

His Table de Ville, which he intends to realise in the revamped Bijlmerpark in multicultural southeastern Amsterdam, is illustrative of this attitude.

A table with countless sides

"A lot of Surinamese and Antillean people live in the Bijlmer," Meiboom says. "They normally spend much more time outdoors and go to visit each other. But there’s almost no life in the Bijlmerpark at the moment. The park is more of a space of transit. And it should be a place where people can meet, where new connections can be forged. With this table I want to bring back the meeting function of the park in particular and of public space in general. I made the table exaggeratedly large because it causes the object to take on a symbolic function. But the most important thing is that this city table will be used multifunctionally. As far as I’m concerned, people can organise a cooking workshop at it, but also a storytelling festival or a draughts competition. Or businesses could hold a jobs market there. Those are just a few possibilities."

Fostering discussion is an idea found in Meiboom’s other design projects too. He’s currently working on a ‘book’ entitled The Enlightenment, in reference to the 18th-century movement in which people achieved independence by breaking away from religion and the church. "It’s something we could use nowadays too," Meiboom says. "The book is actually a lamp. The double meaning of the word led naturally to the form. Rather than filling a whole book with ideas, as many design and architectural firms do these days, the reference is sufficient. And besides that, the object is practical, because it actually gives light. If the product goes on the market, I’d like the profits to go to educational projects in countries where ‘enlightenment’ is needed."

Jokes and stories

"I feel a connection with people who use imagination to unite humour with serious things, absurdity with the everyday," Meiboom says. "After the uproar around the murder of Theo van Gogh, I proposed an evening-long programme entitled Makkers staakt uw wild geraas (after a line in a Saint Nicholas’ Eve song that means something like ‘Fellows, cease your wild din’) to Amsterdam’s Stadsschouwburg theatre. Saint Nicholas and Black Peter, as fully accepted foreigners, would have spent the evening discussing integration."

Clearly, the team at Studiomeiboom try to capture the zeitgeist by going in search of relevant issues. They do it for clients, too. "A flexible attitude is necessary for that," Meiboom says. "It makes it a challenge these days to create a brand. You have to tell a clear-cut story and at the same time remain adaptable. Talking to each other – like at a table – helps."