Designer. Tord Boontje was born in the Netherlands to Dutch and Swedish parents and studied at the Eindhoven Design Academy and later at the Royal College of Art, London.  Many of his designs are inspired by the fields and forests of his childhood, and feature flowers, animals and butterflies.  After leaving art college he established Transglass, with the artist Emma Woffenden, as a company making domestic glassware from recycled bottles.  He has worked with the fashion designers Alexander McQueen and Paul Smith, and designed chandeliers for the crystal specialist Swarovski.  The artist lives and works in London.

Wednesday Table comes from a group of pieces the artist made with the collective title The Wednesday Collection, so called because, as Boontje has said ‘I didn’t want my work to be too fashionable or  perfect. It’s neither of the past nor the present. It’s normal – like a Wednesday’.  The table is made from untreated stainless steel with a perforated flower pattern and then drizzled with resin.  The collection also includes a ‘light’ – in the form of a string of flowers etched from metal and wrapped round a light bulb to give dappled shadows.  Such has been the impact of this design, that Habitat (part of IKEA) have produced a more commercial version retailing for a fraction of the price.

Wednesday Table 2002
Stainless steel and resin
203 x 93 x 79 cm
Purchased from the Crafts Council, September 2002