Design Intervention Signature Series have achieved their second Shortlist success in the International Product Design Awards with their ‘Botero’ table in the running for the Table Award. The lines of this unique table have been inspired by the sculptures of the renowned South American artist Fernando Botero whose rounded “fat” forms are instantly recognizable to many in Singapore following the introductions of several of his statues to the Esplanade park in 2005. “Like Botero, we endeavoured to create a sensual piece filled with joy . The table itself, as does Botero’s work, “inspires peace whilst provoking happiness and abundance”, as dining experiences should!”
Design Intervention tell us “The exaggerated fullness of his “fat bottomed ladies” has been echoed in the roundness of the bulbous pedestal. The base of the table is also reminiscent of the feet found in many of Botero’s human sculptures . To achieve the desired form, the proportions were key. Finding a carpenter who could turn this size of pedestal in wood was impossible. There wasn’t a machine in Singapore that could handle a ball of that size. So we decided to make the ball element in fibre glass. The rest of the pedestal was constructed in wood, with the top in MDF for a smoother finish.”
“We lacquered the table to achieve a high gloss finish, shown here in red and white options. Lacquer is, by nature, quite delicate and prone to scratching after repeated use. Therefore, to make the table top more resilient, we added a sheet of clear glass, however, we found that this distracted from the seamless flow of the design. To combat this problem, we back-painted the glass in the matching colour, a technique that is often used for kitchen splash backs, thereby resulting in a seamless lacquered look.”