London Design Festival 2013: The Dinner Party

London – Dutch design studio Scholten & Baijings is presenting its contemporary tableware at a staged dinner party at the Victoria and Albert Museum as part of the London Design Festival.

The Dinner Party still life shows Scholten & Baijings’ tableware performing its original function as receptacles of food, and provides a more natural way of viewing design. ‘Normally, design is presented on a pedestal,’ says designer Stefan Scholten. ‘Design should be used.’

The duo envisaged characters seated at this fictional dinner party, from an American eating fake salami and cheese to a child who has just opened a present. The idea is that viewers come in and feel as if the guests have just left. This blurring of fiction and fantasy is reminiscent of our Faction Marketing microtrend, which is now evident in the design world.

Adding to the fantastical setting is music by Moritz Gabe and Henning Grambow, who used the duo’s tableware to create a soundtrack of ambient noise.

For more on the London Design Festival, see our Show Preview and look out for daily coverage of the event.

The Dinner Party will be on show at the Victoria and Albert Museum until 22 September.