The annual Das Haus – Interiors on Stage installation invites designers to present their vision of an ideal home: a space that was both public and personal. As the designers entrusted with shaping this format for its inaugural edition, Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien focused on redefining traditional domestic spaces and exploring the interrelationship between different activities – eating, sleeping, bathing, dressing, socialising and working – and how each could influence the others.

Within this setting, Doshi Levien designed the Manzai dining table specifically for Das Haus 2012. The table expresses the idea of parallel activities taking place at once. Its hexagonal terrazzo surface meets a rectangle of marble to create a single unified piece, allowing different tasks to happen simultaneously. Placed at the heart of the installation, the table became a focal point for family life: a place where children could do homework while food was prepared or people gathered, underscoring the notion of shared activity.