Message Table

An answering machine that was merged into a wooden table. For each message received, a box appears on the table. To listen, open the box - and to delete, push it back into the desk. Exhibited at the Victoria & Albert Museum, at the Salone del Mobile 2005 in Milano and at the Gallery AB+, Torino.
(designed with Shawn Bonkowski)

Video

Technical details

The table was build by hacking an existing answering machine and rewiring some of its original functions (such as recording a message, play, pause and delete). In order to control it electronically, the components were then connected to a wiring board. The Message Table had several iterations. The first version used an existing Ikea table, the second was custom-made hardwood table, and the latest version was integrated into the Techno table, “Nomos”.