Café Tolerance
In design, we must remember to allow for tolerance. Tolerance is the wiggle room between two things. It's the space in-between which allows them to work together. The way a cup fits a saucer. Socially, tolerance is the thing that helps us all see eye to eye. As individuals, the things that we can tolerate, and that which we find intolerable becomes the compass with which we navigate the world.
For the 2024 London Design Festival we created ‘Café Tolerance’, a street-side cafe from the back of a Beford Rascal van, a place for meeting and discussion. It was built to highlight the dual meaning of the word tolerance, both in design and in human interaction; in our objects, and in ourselves. The café was designed to reflect this, considering tolerance in every step of the process. The table is held in tension, like the best conversations always are, spilling out of the van and onto the street. It hangs at elbow height, encouraging you to lean in and take notice.
Beyond the week of LDF, the ambition is that this becomes a starting point for a wider piece of research about tolerance and how design can respond to times of social unrest.
All proceeds from the week were donated to Hackney Night Shelter.
We served coffees, kindly provided by Morning machines and AllPress coffee, with a digestive biscuit in a custom folded aluminium tray. Throughout the course of the week we travelled to a different location across London each day, asking people to engage with the idea of tolerance and what it means to them, whilst sharing a drink street-side.
Image credits: Mitre & Mondays, Dan Visuals