What does the ideal dining table look like to someone who dedicates his life to beauty? Serax asked this question to the Antwerp photographer Anton Fayle. His answer: an organised chaos with a touch of brutalism inspired by the splendour of Indonesia.
“For me, the brutal, organic forms of the FCK collection perfectly depict life on an island: unpredictable and rough but also very pure."
Please introduce yourself.
“I am Anton, a photographer from Antwerp with a love for analogue photography. This fascination began around the age of sixteen when I discovered my father’s old cameras. He passed away when I was five years old, which formed a connection with him through those old cameras. Following that, I taught myself photography. Analogue photography involves a slow process that offers a certain peace of mind in a world that seems to be running faster and faster. For two years, I have been working full-time as a photographer, and I’ve been immersed in fashion photography. It happened spontaneously by helping friends who were students at the Antwerp fashion academy with the photography of their collections.”
Your dream table is located in faraway and exotic Indonesia. Why is that?
“For a good seven years, I have been travelling to Indonesia regularly. In recent years, I have been staying more often in Lombok, an island that is a little quieter. Nature is beautiful there, and there is a lot of surfing, which I like to do. I wake up there to the rhythm of nature. In the morning, I get up and take my surfboard on the moped to the ocean. It’s an indescribable feeling.”
You photographed this project in the home of artist Jake Paul White. Why did you choose his home?
“I met Jake this year in Bali through a friend. Jake is from the UK, but he has lived there for several years. In his home, he mixes elements of local culture with Western modernism in a particularly harmonious way. You could describe his work in the same way. For example, he extracts pigments from local plants to make paint. You can feel the nature of Indonesia come to life in his rather abstract paintings.”
Jake’s natural and smooth colour shapes contrast beautifully with the brutalist tableware you chose: FCK by Frédérick Gautier for Serax.
“For me, the brutal, organic forms of the FCK collection perfectly depict life on an island: unpredictable and rough but also very pure. Frédérick Gautier translates the fragile beauty of nature and the casual atmosphere into design. In my own work, I always try to find the thin line between perfection and imperfection. In my eyes, Frédérick’s work fits seamlessly with that. Although the tableware has imperfections in its shape and texture, the whole feels very thoughtful and detailed.”
On the table of your dreams, we find a lot of fruit. Can you tell us more?
“My dream table consists of a chaotic set of dishes that come and go. In fact, my dream table is only perfect when the plates are half empty, the crumbs are scattered on the table, and the cups are half full of lukewarm coffee. Fruit is a logical choice in Indonesia because you can literally pick the fruits right from the trees. I eat fruit here at all times of the day. The variety here is so great that there is a fruit for every meal. For example, people cook unripe fruit for dinner and pour a spicy sauce (Boomboe) over it. Rujak is the name of the dish. Incredibly tasty.”
Are you a creative and interested in curating your own dream table? Contact us at hello@serax.com.
