Anthony Dickens' Origami table has been selected by Heal's for their Discovers range. Utilising a unique interlocking slot/axis technique, it provides an innovative table solution. We caught up with him in his studio to discuss how things were progressing.
How did you become aware of the Heal’s brief on the Hidden Art Brokerage?
I got an email, which was great because I am doing so many things. It was like a knock on the door. I’m no good at just sitting there wondering what new work could be done.
Did you already have the table concept when the brief arrived?
It’s a long story. The idea came from my cousin, who’s 75 years old. I’ve known all my life obviously. I met him recently at funeral and he came up to me knowing I had been working on furniture design. He said for the past eight years he had been working on this table, and was interested in getting it into production. So we had a meeting about a week and a half later. He showed me this wooden table leg, which he had made to lock together and the whole premise is a fold with slots cut out of it. It’s a patented design, having the two slots on the axis was an idea that hadn’t been used before apparently. I started looking into how it could be made, and quickly realised that cutting the originally planned slots is an absolute nightmare, it costs a lot of money getting a 5-axis milling machines involved. I jumped to metal and looked at stamping it out and laser cutting and came to a thinned out design, basically around his invention. I just told him to stop thinking about wood.
Is your cousin still involved in the design?
Yes, we’ve set up a company called Dickens&Wilson, which is the manufacturing side of it. So we are going to push the contract market, he’s backed it and I’ve designed it. We are trying to take it forward, to do a stool version and then obliterate all the different sorts of tables we can make with it. It’s open at the moment, its interesting working with him; he is a fascinating guy.
Was the table the only object you submitted?
No. There were a couple of clocks, one I exhibited in 2003, the Timeline. The other one was Around About. I also submitted a Lamp for Angle Poise. It’s not really ready, but we might launch it with Heal’s in September, not as part of Discovers. I think it is the first time that Angle Poise has commissioned a designer to do a new design in about 25 years. With all the new stuff kicking off, new products on the Hidden Art stand, the light and the new eco products we are developing through Innovative Routes to Market it is very exciting.
The eco products are just in the test stage, combining orange peel with an organic resin. We met a scientist at Brunel; an amazing guy who investigates organic resins and how they can be used. I showed him our plans and he seemed quite intrigued. We want to look into injection moulding.
What is the next stop for the tables?
The first delivery will hopefully be soon. They are doing 10 big and 20 small tables. The 20 small ones will go around all seven shops. They come with a glass tabletop, but the next step is to do a metal top so it can be used outdoors. We will hopefully pursue the origami theme and get it thin and give it some texture. We also want to do a dining table with two frames.
Click here for more details on the Heal's Discovers range.
