Coffee Meanings
This is a coffee table—but not the kind you are used to. It’s built from four interactive stations, forming a collaborative system that takes you through the journey of coffee: from selecting a quality green seed, to roasting, grinding, and finally brewing. Each step invites reflection and participation. This table is a celebration of the process—from production to consumption—and all the effort, people, and rituals in between. This experience invites a group of friends to sit and reflect as they make coffee together. When taking time to appreciate and understand the process, we question the systems behind coffee: Where was this grown? How was it traded? Who was involved? And soon, we make better choices.
Context
more sustainable coffee systems
Behind every cup of coffee lies a complex and often problematic system. Farmers face unstable prices, climate pressures, and exploitative supply chains that undervalue their labor. These challenges threaten both the people and the environments that sustain coffee. My work is driven by a desire to make this hidden reality visible — to invite others to slow down, understand the care required to produce coffee, and build a deeper respect for the people who grow it. This table is not just a tool for brewing; it is meant to be a stage for the kind reflection and awareness that sparks change.
Features
This table is built from natural, durable materials in a cohesive palette. It’s intentionally collaborative and ritual-based, designed for circular, performative making rather than push-button convenience. Embedded technologies are stripped back and made manual, so the process has a real learning curve and demands time and effort. Its form supports education: it exposes what coffee actually takes to produce, invites reflection through making, and turns brewing into an act of awareness rather than mindless consumption.
Performative
Each station is designed with a rotational element. When the table is in use, it transforms into a performance, with each station turning in harmony to achieve a shared, collaborative goal.
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The Four
Stations
"This coffee table is inspired by both the steps of the coffee-making process and elements of nature: the first station represents the land where coffee is farmed, the second symbolizes fire used in processing, the third evokes wind and aroma, and the last embodies water"
How to Use it
Each station includes its own set of clear steps, inviting participants to learn, follow, and contribute to the brew. The table guides people through the process without rush, making the method understandable and approachable.
Station One: Hand Picking Beans
Learning to pick good coffee beans is all about consistency. To ensure even roasting, the beans should be weighted and selected carefully. The green coffee beans are spread out on the plate using the rake and are selected one by one after careful observation. One must use the scale to weigh each bean individually, looking for whole beans—free of cracks, holes, or signs of insect damage—and as similar in size and weight as possible. This act of selecting the right beans is meant to mirror the same type of care and effort farmers take when hand-picking the ripest red coffee cherries for further processing.
Station Two: Roasting your Green Beans
Roasting coffee is all about consistency, which is why it is typically handled by professional roasters. My hand-operated roaster takes inspiration from their techniques. By keeping the beans in constant motion, it ensures an even roast that penetrates to the center rather than scorching the surface. The process begins by lighting a fire in the ceramic chamber beneath the roasting plate. As the heat builds, the beans gradually roast over the course of about 20 minutes, progressing from light to dark. Once they reach just below the desired roast level, the fire is extinguished and the beans are kept in motion until they cool, locking in their flavor.
Station Three: Grinding Beans
Grinding your beans is all about consistent motion and achieving uniform grounds. Insert the beans in the entrance of the grinder and begin to turn while pushing down lightly for added weight, this motion will crush the beans repeadly and the coffee grounds will shoot out the sides. After grinding, use the provided brush to collect any grounds that have scattered about and are left over. Keeping your grinder clean is crucial.
Station Four: Brewing Ground Coffee
This brewing process is inspired by the traditional Turkish method, where coffee grounds and water a mixed together over hot sand and the resulting brewed coffee is consumed mostly unfiltered. Here, the coffee and water are heated over an small electric heater and once the coffee starts to bubble, its ready to pour. Here, I added an extra step—pouring the coffee in circles over a central fountain— this helps catch some of those larger grounds and coffee bean shells, resulting in a cleaner brew while evenly distributing the coffee into all four cups at once. This takes some practice.
Process and Ideation
process and ideation step by step
Wood Cutting and Sanding
Highly dence oak wood. CNC router programming and cutting. Tested in purple foam for fitting and iteration purposes.
Fabrication Techniques
Cast and Hand Polished Rockite
Cast rocket parts into CNC cut MDF molds. Resulting cast parts are then removed by cutting away the mold piece by piece and wet-sanded by hand.
Turning , Painting, Fitting, Shaping and Assembly of smaller tools.
Cast rocket parts into CNC cut MDF molds. Resulting cast parts are then removed by cutting away the mold piece by piece and wet-sanded by hand.
Stone/Ceramic Cutting and Sanding
Cast rocket parts into CNC cut MDF molds. Resulting cast parts are then removed by cutting away the mold piece by piece and wet-sanded by hand.
