The break-through for Kram and Weisshaar was the BREEDING TABLES project (2003-ongoing). In this project their approach towards intelligently intertwining product development and media design, while taking advantage of the newest technological possibilities, is paradigmatically outlined.

The product of BREEDING TABLES is tables not a single table, but an indefinite number of different tables. With BREEDING TABLES Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram bid farewell the idea of designing one product to be mass manufactured as a reproduction of the original prototype. In fact they have developed a process that allows for the production of a multitude of individually different pieces of furniture tapping the full potential of current production technologies.

Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram have conceived a process hinged upon custom computer code that generates an indefinite number of solid construction surfaces. Taking into account the specifications of parameters like height, depth, width and load capacity, these computer-generated cutting patterns and associated processing information orchestrate computer controlled laser cutters and bending machines, and seamlessly materialize three-dimensional corpuses.

The flexibility of present-day machines allows for the continuous implementation of modifications. The opening now emerges for the constant production of unique pieces under the conditions and within the budget of mass production a principle extraordinarily adopted by KRAM/WEISSHAAR for the BREEDING TABLES. As Ronald Jones puts it, they synchronise form, materials, and process in a Prouvéian manner. (Ronald Jones, Knowledge-enabled Mass Production. In: BREEDING TABLES, Actar 2009)

The term breeding bundles several concepts central to the project. Each of the BREEDING TABLES is bred according to algorithmic presets and stands equal and individual. There is no longer an ultimate product. The issue of the distinction between the original and its copy becomes irrelevant. Each table is representative of an algorithmic model and simultaneously in her uniqueness, a model for further objects of her species. In tune with contemporary production facilities and conditions, the BREEDING TABLES stand for a new form of integrated product and process development and thus for a new way of thinking design.

Montage of BREEDING TABLES legs

Selection of the BREEDING TABLES created thus far

Tables from the BREEDING TABLES project are in the permanent collections of PINAKOTHEK DER MODERNE, München, VITRA DESIGN MUSEUM, Weil am Rhein, the CENTRE GEORGES POMPIDOU, Paris and the Museum of Modern Art, New York as well as numerous private collections. One off pieces are produced and distributed by KRAM/WEISSHAAR while MOROSO are distributing two models named COUNTACH under license.

BREEDING TABLES legs being painted