Katerina Šedá (CZ, 1977) designed unconventional tables that invite both children and the elderly to play together.
As a student, Šedá spent many a day in Czech retirement homes where she sketched portraits of the eldery residents. She noticed that many children who visited their grandparents were bored. Only when playing a game, children and their grandparents really communicated with each other. Šedá explored several ways for youngsters and the elderly to connect and found that they both have particular small daily struggles in common: skills they need on a daily basis, but that the young have not yet mastered and the elderly no longer have.
The tables look like cabinets or jewelry boxes. The combination of different materials, such as leather, wood, glass, ceramics, stone and feathers appeals physically, while making playing with the tables an adventure. In the tables, the user will also see reliefs and patterns, made by children and the elderly, collected by Šedá in a retirement home.
In her work, Šedá focuses on interactions and relationships in a community or family. She previously designed interactive projects aimed at unifying the residents of her native Brno and bridging the generation gap in her own family.
The tables can be seen and used at Care Center.
