RE-setting the table
2026 (MA project, Design school Kolding)
Eating together is filled with unspoken rules. We are expected to eat neatly, independently and in control. But what happens when the body does not follow these rules? Inspired by the experience of eating with Parkinson’s disease, Re-setting the Table questions why slowness, instability, and spilling are often treated as personal failures rather than as mismatches between bodies and the rituals around eating. The project presents a shared meal of tomato soup. At first glance, the table setting looks familiar: bowls, spoons, cups, and serving tools inspired by traditional Danish tableware. Yet, each object slightly shifts the act of eating. Bowls tilt and rebalance, spoons are interconnected, and serving soup requires collaboration. One participant’s movement affects another, turning eating into a shared process of coordination, negotiation and adaptation.
Instead of hiding instability, the project makes space for it. It asks how everyday objects shape ideas of what is normal, independent or correct, and whether dining rituals could make more room for different bodies and ways of being together.
Project awarded with the Bevica Universal Design Award.
