Spatial Design for Death, Grief & Nourishment: Post Service by Tableau in Copenhagen.

Tableau has debuted a new spatial design for Post Service during Copenhagen’s 3 Days of Design. A year in the making, the apartment will be used as a therapeutic clinic that addresses grief and death head-on. Integrating art and design into the healing process, the team worked closely with several progressive artists and designers, curating pieces and designing new objects that will encourage patrons to engage with their senses.

The team describe Post Service as a “facilitation studio working with discussions around death, grief and nourishment.” With the design of such a space often being neglected, Copenhagen darlings Tableau pulled their socks up and rose to the occasion. Through material and form, the space welcomes participants to interact with the environment, objects and themselves, in an engaging way.

With Julius Værnes Iversen at the helm, Tableau is a multidisciplinary studio that functions as an art gallery, design studio, concept store and florist. The studio has a passion for product design and a knack for collaboration, often working with different artists, designers and craftsmen in the process of new creations. Renowned for their big and small floral installations within Denmark, the practice has recently entered the interior design game, proving to be a force to be reckoned with.

Related: Tableau Flower Shop in Copenhagen by Studio David Thulstrup.

Leading the whole interior project, the studio orchestrated everything from the choice of colours on the walls to the curating of objects and furniture. The generous apartment includes a myriad of wellness zones including two rooms with private infrared saunas, a movement room with a handmade ballet barre and a bespoke rubber granulated carpet, a ”nourishment” room, a specially made nail table, a long organic shaped red velvet couch, a “fringe bomb” chair, a specially made daybed, and many other quirky, enticing objects to engage with.

For the office, the team created a one-of-a-kind crystal desk made from Azul Macaubas, a type of quartz. When entering the space, visitors are met by walls and ceilings painted in mint, lavender, blue, and even silver tones.

Each room contains several art pieces specially created for the space or chosen from Tableau’s own curation of art and design. The artists and designers are both emerging and established from across the globe featuring work from Laurids Gallée, Jacob Egeberg, Kristine Mandsberg, Carsten Inderelst, Arnaud Eubelen, and many others. All objects and pieces were chosen carefully to create a specific flow of energy throughout the space, working with the functionality of each room that the objects and pieces are in.

The guidance inherent to this process encourages clients to become mindful of their senses, play with different materials, allow design and art to impact them and take them deeper into the well of feelings and emotions while still holding space for them to unpack their lived experience in a safe environment.

Death and grief are taboo topics in many cultures which makes open discussions of the subjects difficult. Post Service welcomes an approach of playfulness, curiosity, and creativity through the objects and pieces which all have their own story and personality behind them. The space aims to be not only beautiful, but a place where both body and mind are engaged and cared for.

[Images courtesy of Tableau. Photography by Michael Rygaard.]