for the Pentagon Group, comprising three kitchen elements, each of which is supported on a tripod base; open steel plate and tubular steel cooking and dining units and sink; the woks and water tap in the picture are not part of this lot; each element: height approx. 109 cm, width approx. 130 cm, depth approx. 121 cm. (MHA)

Prototype of a planned series that eventually remained unrealised.

Reproduced in:
Gruppe Pentagon, Prodomo, Vienna, 17 May – 8 June 1991, exhibition catalogue, 12, Vienna 1991, ill. p. 29

In 1985, Wolfgang Laubersheimer was a co-founder of the Pentagon Group. ‘The Prodomo is the second (!) piece of furniture designed by the Pentagon Group and – as always – the product of careful planning and accident: the members of the group came to an agreement on the type of object; its final appearance and function, however, are the result of a four-day creative process in the rooms of Prodomo. In the beginning, simple machinery for processing metal sheet and tubes was developed from a predefined reservoir of materials and then put into operation; a prototype was built, then production started, during which a limited number of the same object was manufactured. The choice of the object is obvious. The fireplace as a site of the preparation and intake of food is the breeding ground of human civilisation. Homo faber builds his house around the fireplace, differentiating between inside and outside, forging both his sword and the laws of hospitality’ (Gruppe Pentagon, Prodomo, Vienna, 17 May – 8 June 1991, exhibition catalogue, 12, Vienna 1991, p. 29).

Provenance:
Peter Teichgräber Collection, Vienna