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Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

2004

  • Work on this object began.

2012

  • Work on this object ended.

2015

2024

  • You found it!

Expanding Furniture

This is a Expanding Furniture. It was designed by Heatherwick Studio and Thomas Heatherwick and collaborator: Haunch of Venison. It is dated 2004–2012. Its medium is aluminum (table); acrylic (bowl).

How can intimate objects change shape?
This project began by investigating whether a carpet could be made to expand and change its proportions. The studio developed a prototype based on the pivot mechanism of a wooden garden trellis. By slicing a square rug into strips and applying them on top of a crisscross mechanism, the strips pivoted past each other to produce a rectangular carpet that created interesting patterns and textures as it stretched and warped. The studio extended the concept to three-dimensional objects including this table and a bowl that could dramatically mutate into an oval shape

It is credited Courtesy of Heatherwick Studio.

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Our curators have highlighted 2 objects that are related to this one.

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Its dimensions are

H x W x D (Friction table prototype, expanded): 39.1 × 128 × 69.2 cm (15 3/8 × 50 3/8 × 27 1/4 in.) H x W x D (bowl prototype, expanded): 18.4 × 94 × 21 cm (7 1/4 in. × 37 in. × 8 1/4 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio.

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/85006471/ |title=Expanding Furniture |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=18 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>