Zula

“Zula” is a common word in the Hebrew vernacular and refers to a social gathering space that encourages floor sitting. Whether inside or outside the home, the building of a zula is an act of placemaking–an intervention that often reflects and complements its surroundings. A contemporary reinterpretation of this space and experience, Zula is a discrete standing bowl that invites users to interact with its ambiguity. Through typology, scale and form, the object encourages communal eating and interaction in a simple, direct, and non-hierarchical manner. In this democratization, Zula asserts the power of the bowl as a unifying and inclusive object that subtly subverts Western table etiquette. The ground and the bowl become one as the concrete joins the wood. These two unlike materials support each other in service of sharing.