In this project I worked with Paleolithic diet as the theme for the design. The idea behind this food philosophy is to eat the same ingredients as our ancestors did in the Stone Age. I translated this philosophy to a material dogma for my design and I chose to work with cowhide and oak. To make the hide stiff I have used methods from traditional drum building, tensioning the soaked hide on the strong wooden frame with leather string. The material choice supports the sustainable philosophy of using the whole animal. When you are eating your steak on the hide of the cow, it is leading to a greater awareness of the origin of the food. Though working with original materials, I still wanted the table to have contemporary aesthetics. The shape of the table was partly given by the properties of the materials, as the wooden frame needed to be as strong as possible to hold the tension of the hide, but the overall idiom is simple and graphic.
