I AM U ARE — Ukrainian Creators Fair

Durability against disposability

FORMA studio's design treated the furniture not as trade-show rental stock but as architectural infrastructure — oak and steel pieces with tight joints, flush surfaces, and no visible fasteners. The problem: every piece had a three-day lifespan. The system had to withstand continuous public load, allow 120 exhibitors to configure displays independently, then break down to palletized components for removal in a single shift. No glue, no permanent fasteners, no on-site finishing — yet no compromise at the joint line.

Modular exhibition furniture system

FORMA's design called for a single table module deployable alone or in multiples without visible seams or structural compromise at the joints. Each exhibitor needed a consistent display surface, but booth configurations varied in size and layout, so interchangeability governed every fabrication decision.

Tops were fabricated from plain-sliced oak veneer over engineered substrate, batch-cut on CNC equipment at ±1 mm tolerance and edgebanded as a single production run. Grain direction was matched across the full lot so adjacent modules would maintain visual continuity regardless of which specific units were paired on site. Bases: steel tube, powder-coated in a matte finish FORMA specified to recede against the oak. Cable management channels routed into the underside of each top, concealed by flush access covers, kept exhibitor power and data off the surface.

Batch production meant any module could pair with any other — installation crews weren't matching numbered units. Floor-level setup for the full venue: under ten hours.

Scope Integration

The table system was one component in a larger package FORMA designed to function as a unified material environment. Reception counter (credential check, information point, branded surface), display plinths rated for heavier exhibitor loads (ceramics, hardware prototypes, bound publications), collaboration seating, below-table storage casework, and wayfinding elements — all fabricated from the same oak veneer lot and steel specification, all built for knockdown assembly.

Single-day installation. Same-morning teardown after close.

Materials and Fabrication Methodology

FORMA selected oak veneer for warmth against the venue's concrete and steel, and powder-coated steel framing for public-event load and impact conditions. Bricble sourced veneer in a single lot — these pieces would sit side-by-side under uniform lighting across an open floor, so color and grain drift between batches was unacceptable.

The six-week window required parallel production: veneer work and steel fabrication ran simultaneously, with assembly and quality checks staged in the final ten days. Steel components were fabricated, welded, ground, and coated in-house. Coordination with the venue's operations team set the installation sequence — bases positioned by grid coordinate, tops placed and leveled, cable management connected last — allowing crews to work in zones across the floor rather than unit-by-unit.

The Modular Connection

The joint between modules was the engineering problem that governed the table design. Modules had to lock rigidly enough to carry exhibitor loads across the seam, yet separate by hand for reconfiguration and teardown.

Concealed steel inserts recessed into the substrate edge, paired with self-locating alignment pins. No visible hardware when joined. Under load, the steel-to-steel bearing surface distributes force across the full joint face rather than concentrating at pin points — eliminating the flex and racking typical of knockdown furniture at this scale. Power and data cross module boundaries through indexed channels beneath flush covers, maintaining continuous service runs regardless of configuration.

Visual: Close-up of connection detail

Caption: Steel inserts and alignment pins — tool-free assembly, full load distribution across the joint.

Public Event References: The Lo-Down, The Art Newspaper, Vogue