The Playground Table by Moniek Gerner
Moniek Gerner
The Playground Table, 2001
The ‘Playground’ table by Moniek Gerner does double duty: on top, adults can sit, work or dine; underneath, children can build secret hideaways, play houses, or just hang out in their own world. An elegantly simple wooden table reveals a hidden dimension of fun and interaction—turning everyday furniture into a playful multi-layered encounter.
Me, Myself & You explored the delicate, intimate, and often unpredictable ways design shapes our social world. Fences that invite neighbours to play and benches that determine how close we sit — each object examines the fine balance between connection and distance. With human relationships at its core, the project invited us to smile, hesitate, and perhaps take a seat where we normally wouldn’t.
More than an exploration of materials or form, it focused on behaviour, identity, and the subtle spaces between people in the 21st century. First presented in Milan in 2001 and later in Utrecht, the exhibition transformed everyday encounters into playful experiments in social design.
