Marjan van Aubel

Marjan van Aubel ‘s work is an experiment with materials. One of her approaches is to combine her design objects with aesthetic appeal and multiple functions – for example, a table that also produces electricity. With her “Current Table”, the Dutch designer is one of the winners of the Interior Awards at the Biennale Interieur 2014 in Kortrijk.

Baumeister: The Biennale Interieur’s thesis “The Home Does Not Exist” implies that our way of life is changing completely due to the internet and data. So much so that we will no longer have bookshelves in the future. What do you think of this trend?
Marjan van Aubel: You can definitely say that everything is moving faster – especially in this day and age when we use our smartphones for everything. That is a fact. It’s also a fact that we need fewer things and therefore own fewer things.

B: So is your work today different to that of a designer 20 years ago?
M V A: No, of course we still need design objects. But it’s much more about linking the digital and physical worlds.

B: So the physical and virtual worlds are growing closer together – okay. But what does that look like in concrete terms?
M V A: I think we will simply live more modestly in the future. We will need fewer things. Let’s imagine what a workplace looked like before there were computers. It was a simple table that we worked at. It didn’t need any particular design. And then the computer came along, the cables had to go somewhere. So the design became more important.

B: You won an award at the Interior Awards for your “Current Table” desk. The design is functional and yet also fulfills an aesthetic requirement. How do you combine the two?
M V A: With the Current Table, I work with solar cell technology. The color of the table surface has two different functions here: an aesthetic and a functional one. Color is usually only used for aesthetic reasons, but here it can also generate electricity. I find it very interesting to think about function and aesthetics. If you think about solar cells on rooftops, for example, you have a picture of really ugly elements in front of you. If you think about how you can use this technology and still create an attractive environment, you might come up with solar shingles or something similar that simply blend into the roof surface. You should always think about how you really want to use things, apart from efficiency. After all, we don’t want to live in an environment that is ugly.

B: Do you think that a project like the Current Table can be a prototype for design of the future? In other words, looking at a table not just as a workstation, but as something that possibly also produces electricity?
M V A: We work with computers today – so why not produce electricity where it is needed? I can then also work outdoors with this table. It’s important to think about how we use objects. And at a table where I work with a computer, I need electricity. I don’t like to think additively: I put a computer on the table. I find it more appealing to integrate things into one another, to think about how I use objects. That seems quite natural to me.

You can find a more detailed interview in Baumeister 7/2014