Tableskin is a 100% Belgian tablecloth and napkin. It’s the result of a collaboration between luxury linen manufacturer Verilin and artistic maker Lore Langendries. From Lore’s doctoral research and the artistic work resulting therefrom, the idea came to transfer this natural material and its properties to a new natural carrier. Tableskin is nominated for the Henry van de Velde award in the category Design-led Crafts.

The tablecloth, Tableskin, plays with the attractive and repulsive of ‘hair’ at the table. De irregularity and the tactile appeal of the material were literally portrayed. A digital image of a roedeer hide was transformed into a natural linen fabric thanks to the combination of Verilin’s tradition, craftsmanship and innovation. The matching napkins derived form a close-up of a cowlick hair growth from the same roedeer hide. Where you can doubt with the tablecloth, there is no doubt with the napkins. You are wiping your mouth with hair.

The animal hide as a starting point refers to the beginning of human existence, where animal hides were one of the first materials used by hunters and collectors in their daily lives. Nowadays, we don’t see animal hides as a mere functional material with warm-keeping function, but also as a material associated with luxury and wealth. Tableskin provides the opportunity to create a ‘warm’ and luxurious table setting at home, as well as going into nature for a picnic or hunting. The luxurious nomad is, with his Tableskin, free to move and has a strong emotional relationship with nature.

Tableskin was part of the exhibition ‘Hands On Design’, the 8th Triennial for Design in the Design Museum of Gent (2016). The main goal of ‘Hands on Design’ was to show what is now, but also giving new impetus and enable new collaborations. Tableskin was the result of bringing together creators, designers and companies creating a new product with the added value of appreciated crafts.

Verilin is a textile company from South West Flanders. The family business has an unknown expertise in the weaving of linen and can handle the most complex patterns with its jacquard fabrics. Verilin faces challenges and loves to work with artistic thinkers and makers who need their knowledge and craftsmanship. They translated, together with Lore, the tactile and playful hairy structure of the roedeer hide into a poetic table linen in which soft brown hairs are moving on a white background.

Lore Langendries is an artistic maker active in the field of contemporary jewellery and objects. In November 2015 she received her PhD in the Arts at the KU Leuven, the University of Hasselt and the PXL-MAD. Her research focused on combining the reproducibility of mechanical treatment, an intensive physical involvement of the maker and the irregular qualities of a natural material like animal hides. From this unconventional fusion she made wearable objects that balance between the unique and the serial. This process leads to intriguing objects. Brooches and necklaces look surprisingly beautiful and visually and tactily very tempting. Few or many hair, short or long hair, direction and structural changes are phenomena that make every animal hide and each species special and unique.

More info about the Henry van de Velde awards, click here.

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