When the balance tips

There was no doubt in Stine Weigelt’s mind that her table top should be all white marble. The slab came from a production for a Catholic church in Greece, produced in Poland and then shipped to Denmark by truck along with a spare slab made from a different material in case the marble would break.

And it did.

When the installation was about to be put together in Aarhus, the marble top broke as it was liftet just 60 cm above the ground.

- It’s the irony of fate, says Stine Weigelt, who is a trained industrial designer and who has decorated one of the seven containers that makes up the Design School Kolding exhibition, The Tube, that opens in Milan this week.

The thematic headline of the exhibition is ’the table’, and with her table Tipping Point, Stine Weigelt wanted to focus on the concept of balance. First of all, the balance of the Earth.

- This made it almost funny that the marble top broke. Sometimes you offset the balance when you become too eager to do it right. With this project I want people to reflect on how we achieve balance in life and take care not to upset nature’s ecosystems, Stine Weigelt says.

Only human
Tipping Point consists of a pendulum, which hangs from the container ceiling, that holds a table top, and the tipping point, which you find by moving the weight, is a jar filled with organic mint symbolising Earth’s fragile ecosystem that we need to protect. Spectators can move the herb and experiment with the tipping point of the table. If they dare.

- I hope the people who see my exhibition will reflect on the concept of sustainability and what it takes to live sustainably. Sometimes it can overwhelm you to the point that you lose the ability for action. If you have a lighter and more playful approach to sustainability, it might become more manageable. For instance, I’d like to have an SUV and also serve organic food to my children and I think a lot of people can identify with this duality. We’re only human and if we think everything has to be perfect, we might end up doing nothing, says Stine Weigelt.

Stine Weigelt has collaborated with the industry organisation Danish Horticulture and they helped her pick the mint, which is an ancient but also aromatic and healing herb. Other than that, Stine Weigelt is hesitant to speak about her design and with good reason.

- I discovered that the less I say, the more space you get for making your own interpretation. For instance, balance is also about juggling being a mom as well as a career woman and really, my hope is just that my project will make people think about when the balance tips, Stine Weigelt ends.

The Tube opens on Tuesday 14 April during the Milan Design Week and consists of seven containers. Eight designers are involved.