This body of work is based on a personal study of Jerusalem—the city that has served as a pivotal source of inspiration and played a significant role in forming our identities as mature designers. In the works exhibited, we treat Jerusalem both as a place with a rich material culture that is charged with geopolitical issues, and as an abstract subject that can be interpreted in varying ways. We present nine occasional tables whose designs are based on different physical and conceptual interpretations of certain aspects of the city.

Design Team

Ezri Tarazi

Design assistants: Avi Fedida, Inbal Yannai, Noam Yaish, Shy Tavori, Nir Amir, Sharon Sides, Noga Shimshon, Nurit Grinberg, Michal Liberman

Divided City Table
The table's design reflects the geopolitical situation of the divided city of Jerusalem. The tabletop is made up of a puzzle of twenty parts of typical Jerusalem objects from the Old City.The items are separated from each other according to streets marked on a map of the city. An opening mechanism divides the tabletop in two by raising the serving areas and moving them toward those using the table, as if serving up an offering.On opening the table, the map splits in two to produce a tangible expression of the divided city. Thus, when the table is closed it emphasises the beauty of the city as a whole consisting of many multi-faceted parts; however, when the table is in use its top is no longer a single unbroken surface, the mechanism is revealed, and its aesthetic appearance is spoiled for the viewer.
Closed 38×142×103 Open 55×197×103

Bars Table
The table is made of a variety of bars covered with glass surfaces at different levels, expressing the changing contours in the city's topography. The designs of the bars are based on photographs of original door and window bars found in the Old City and were produced to a special order by using laser cutting files sent to the manufacturer. The houses of the Old City, like many public buildings in Jerusalem, commonly have bars across the doors or windows that are embellished with symbolic ornamentation, decorations and texts with different meanings. One sometimes finds bars in different styles incorporated side-by-side in a single building. This is usually due to economic considerations, yet it also provides evidence of the range of cultures in the different parts of the city.
43.5×107×106.5

Gush Table
The Zion Bloc table is designed as a solid entity with clean lines that form a geometric abstraction of a map of the Old City.The table's base is narrower than its top and the structure can be viewed converging downward to form a kind of inverse projection of the city's map. In contrast, when the table is viewed from below toward its top it seems to be in an upward thrust, from the earthly level of the city to its heavenly level—a visual depiction of the 'Heavenly Jerusalem.' Despite its bulky appearance, the table only weighs 15 kg and is light and easily carried.
40×87×86

Dirt from Your Earth Table
The table is made up of a group of deep wheel-turned bowls shaped like amphorae, the pottery vessels used to store perishable goods in antiquity. Once common in the eastern Mediterranean basin, similar vessels have also been found in archaeological excavations in Jerusalem's Old City. The bowls in the table are made of porcelain clay mixed with soil from the Temple Mount excavations. The cracks formed while firing the vessels were deliberately retained as a reminder of the raw clay material. Because of their pointed bases, the bowls can only stand when inserted in special holes in the metal plate that forms the base of the table. The table's design reflects two issues. One is the political-religious issue, signified by the origin of the raw material—a controversial historical and archaeological site; the other is the cultural aspect—the tradition, common in Mediterranean countries, of providing refreshments in numerous small bowls.
45×107×106

Jerusalem Voronoi Table
A Voronoi diagram is a method of mathematical calculation based on partitioning a plane into polygons based on their distance from sample points in the plane. Voronoi patterns tend to break up continuity and expand. They occur in different natural structures such as animals, plants, and the basic elements. In designing the table, data from a map of the city was translated with the use of a Voronoi diagram —first to a two-dimensional diagram and then to a model produced with a three-dimensional printer. The resulting table has a rhizomatic structure whose form resembles a multibranched tangle. The table's design was inspired by the future demographic changes anticipated in the Old City regarding the population's future growth and obvious trends in its segmentation.
40×50×50

Excavations Table
The table is an exaggerated visual expression of the archaeological excavations that are frequently carried out in the Old City, initiated by different political and religious factions. It reflects a hypothetical situation in which the excavations have become detached from their original purpose—excavation and preservation—to become an end in itself. The table's design resembles a model of an archaeological site. Its main part consists of layers of soil gradually funneling downward, supporting a transparent surface resembling the glass floors at archaeological sites that allow visitors to view the excavations. The form of the table resembles an abandoned futuristic mine, portraying the dystopian world of a city that has been totally abandoned after being completely excavated.
44×121.6×121

Maqam Makom Table
Maqam (the Arabic word for 'place') is the system of melodic modes and structures used in traditional Arabic music. The Table pays homage to two traditions that are often combined at social gatherings: Coffee drinking and making music together. The table contains twelve shallow cavities for coffee cups and an additional one for a coffee pot. A cup placed in one of the cavities completes an electric circuit between two copper conductors, activating a musical 'loop'. Each cavity causes a different sound to be produced by a single musical instrument. Like a band made up of different musicians, each cup joining the social circle contributes to the musical richness of the soundtrack being played in the background. The table emphasizes the complex beauty of a joint group creation.
43×107×106

Dressed Stone Table
The Dressed Stone table evolved from studying the material that is perhaps most identified with the city - Jerusalem Stone. It was partially cut mechanically from a block of stone and partially hand dressed. Consequently, the upper part of the table is worked to a smooth and shiny finish, whereas its lower part remains unrefined with a rough, coarse texture. The Table was made at the Jerusalem Limestone factory, the first modern stone industry in Israel, established in 1923. The factory has provided stone for some of Jerusalem's most prestigious projects, including Israel's Supreme Court, the Foreign Ministry,the Temple Mount Plaza, and the Hurva Synagogue.
48×102×100

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