No Spare Wheels (Tea set)
Ceramic, variable dimensions, 2023
Despite its small size, the thumb plays a central role in our lives. A humble and discreet hero, it is an essential tool for many technical achievements and marks a turning point in the evolution of humanity. Much more than a single finger, it symbolizes the history of our species.
Described by Aristotle as the “instrument of the instruments,” the thumb, with its opposable feature, is the foundation of our dexterity, offering us the possibility to evolve from arboreal primates to tool manufacturers. Thanks to it, we can not only manipulate objects but also represent, grasp, and write them. In a word, it is the foundation of communication and creation.
The first companion of babies, from the womb where we all sucked on our thumb, to the feeding bottle, fork, knife, book, pen, scissors, pliers, and brushes ... innumerable objects we can handle our entire lives thanks to our two thumbs. What would be our daily life without the opposable thumb, without that little gesture of gripping?
No Spare Wheels is an invitation to dinner where each participant can explore the possibility of evolving without a thumb. It is an intimate and humorous performance implemented through a series of objects specially designed to facilitate this forgetting of the thumb. This project, in its ludic and participative form, is a simple way to reapproach our relationship to the body, the objects we live with, and otherness.
No Spare Wheels is also a design method used to produce some of the dinner elements, following the same abstraction principle. Through hand carving, type design, and sketching, this process proposes an exploration of new aesthetic possibilities and unexpected design solutions.
No Spare Wheels is finally a collection of intimate stories about hand troubles, such as Parkinson’s disease or accidents. In addition to the designed objects, a book will archive all these different experiences, offering an alternative method to produce knowledge.
No Spare Wheels (Tea set)
Ceramic,
Variable dimensions, 2023
Despite its small size, the thumb plays a central role in our lives. A humble and discreet hero, it is an essential tool for many technical achievements and marks a turning point in the evolution of humanity. Much more than a single finger, it symbolizes the history of our species.
Described by Aristotle as the “instrument of the instruments,” the thumb, with its opposable feature, is the foundation of our dexterity, offering us the possibility to evolve from arboreal primates to tool manufacturers. Thanks to it, we can not only manipulate objects but also represent, grasp, and write them. In a word, it is the foundation of communication and creation.
The first companion of babies, from the womb where we all sucked on our thumb, to the feeding bottle, fork, knife, book, pen, scissors, pliers, and brushes ... innumerable objects we can handle our entire lives thanks to our two thumbs. What would be our daily life without the opposable thumb, without that little gesture of gripping?
No Spare Wheels is an invitation to dinner where each participant can explore the possibility of evolving without a thumb. It is an intimate and humorous performance implemented through a series of objects specially designed to facilitate this forgetting of the thumb. This project, in its ludic and participative form, is a simple way to reapproach our relationship to the body, the objects we live with, and otherness.
No Spare Wheels is also a design method used to produce some of the dinner elements, following the same abstraction principle. Through hand carving, type design, and sketching, this process proposes an exploration of new aesthetic possibilities and unexpected design solutions.
No Spare Wheels is finally a collection of intimate stories about hand troubles, such as Parkinson’s disease or accidents. In addition to the designed objects, a book will archive all these different experiences, offering an alternative method to produce knowledge.
Thomas d’Enfert is an artist and product designer based in Basel Switzerland.
With a focus on utility and craft, he designs hybrid objects and furniture, proposing alternative uses and multiple reading possibilities.
Having experiences in both traditional craftsmanship and contemporary design processes, he develops efficient solutions, based on material understanding, manufacturing technics and spatial reflection.
For more information or inquiries about purchase, wholesale or custom order/projects please reach out.
Font designed by edition.studio.
Thomas d’Enfert is an artist and product designer based in Basel Switzerland.
With a focus on utility and craft, he designs hybrid objects and furniture, proposing alternative uses and multiple reading possibilities.
Having experiences in both traditional craftsmanship and contemporary design processes, he develops efficient solutions, based on material understanding, manufacturing technics and spatial reflection.
For more information or inquiries about purchase, wholesale or custom order/projects please reach out.
Font designed by edition.studio.