How Mono Classic became a side table
At the beginning of 2023, ten young designers visited the Mono manufactory in Mettmann. They followed the invitation to the first "Mono Residency", a project initiated by Mono in collaboration with German Design Graduates. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Mono teapot, designed by Tassilo von Grolman, the young designers were asked to develop their own and completely new art and design objects that take up the materiality and typology of the Mono teapot.
The designer Marie Radke is one of the ten young designers and was inspired by Mono Classic. Between February and April, she first worked on the concept and design for two side tables, which she then realized in her own workshop and with the help of external specialists at the highest professional level.
In July, Mono invited to 4T Exhibition in Berlin, where the results of the "Mono Residency" were presented to the public for the first time at an exhibition event. Together with the ten young designers, around 400 art and design enthusiasts from young to old, from Berlin and beyond, celebrated the creative individual pieces and thus the 40th birthday of a design icon. An invitation to the Vienna Design Week followed, where the 4T Exhibition was exhibited again over ten days in September 2023.
The two Classic Side Tables by Marie Radke not only delighted the many exhibition visitors, but also Johannes and Matthias Seibel, the 6th generation of the family business from Mettmann, who initiated the Mono Residency and brought the 4T Exhibition to Berlin and Vienna. The idea was born to develop a limited mini-series from the one-off prototype: Four pieces, one for each decade of Mono Tea, not for sale but only to be won.
Together it gets better
For the production of the small series, designer Marie Radke slightly revised her Classic Side Table. It was made a bit larger, the surface for glasses a bit wider and the glass was fitted with a rubber ring for protection.
Together with Mono, she went in search of the right partners for the production of this small series. They found one in Bavaria at Vilsmeier, a company specialising in tube bending technology. Thanks to Vilsmeier's expertise and the addition of a hidden fixing ring, the Classic Side Table could be optimised even further.
In spring 2024, four winners were delighted to receive this special Mono product. A fifth Classic Side Table is at Marie Radke's home and a sixth is safely stored in the Mono archive.
