exhibit reading table idea

Viewed from above, it looks as if giant (book?) worms could have carved out the niche storage spaces in the surface of this reading table. The effect is reinforced by rippling layers of exposed natural wood and solid-painted white.

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exhibit display library table

While the prototype ExhibiTable (designed by Lu Chieh-Hua & Cheng Tzu-Hao) is clearly oriented toward institutional and retail uses (e.g. stores, libraries and exhibition spaces), it could work equally well in a the home of an avid reader who likes to leave out their favorite books or magazines.

exhibit table white wood

Unlike a conventional system of well-organized public library bookcases or bookstore shelves, this table has a built-in lack of hierarchy – one could picture the locations and orientations of reading materials shifting over time rather than being fixed in place.

exhibit shelving book storage

The flip side to this apparent freedom, however, is a rigid sizing system that would preclude many volumes from easy inclusion in the mix (unless larger, longer and wider books are able to be turned on end).

The designers have both practical and philosophical reasons for designing the combination table and bookcase this way.

“The design concept of the table comes from creating a platform system of sharing, collecting and recommending the new-arrival readings,” say the designers. “We often got lost in libraries and bookstores, when facing hundreds of different books, but did not know how to start to make a choice to read. The main reason is that the display of those books is too miscellaneous, which makes us dazzled and then just shooting a glance.”

“By the design of the table, we display every book in the way of regarding it as an individual and important role. Different from the usual way, which just places books on the surface, it is more like ‘book-recommended.’ And it can also provide a delicate vibration, that is, our senses are provoked by the process of searching, observing and approaching the information of books. In the state of stuffing books onto the table randomly, it can be changed when interacts with the action of readers, bringing an interesting and versatile reading experience to the atmosphere.”