Show Not Show Turns a Press Dinner Into a Critique of Design-World Power

By Elena Vasquez

A mirror at the far end of a sheet-metal table makes it appear to stretch endlessly across the Kruisruimte exhibition space in Eindhoven. That table anchors The Table of Power, a furniture exhibition by the collective Show Not Show running during Dutch Design Week, which takes place from 17 to 25 October 2026 at venues across the city.

The show takes its name from photographer Jacqueline Hassink's 1990s series, in which she documented the boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies — empty of people. Show Not Show borrows the conceit: a long table sits at the centre as a symbol of institutional authority.

Collective members Frank Penders and Luuk van Laarhoven designed the table specifically for the exhibition. It's made from sheet metal, cut and bent into a brutalist form, with brushed textures and chromatic gradients adding allure.

How did a press dinner become an exhibition?

The origin story is unusually practical. Show Not Show was invited to host Dutch Design Week's official press dinner, and their space couldn't accommodate a conventional layout.

"Our exhibition space isn't that big," Penders said. "So we decided to do something quite simple: instead of fitting a dinner into our exhibition, we made the dinner the starting point for the exhibition."

In Show Not Show's reading, the press holds real power in the design industry — it shapes what gets seen, discussed and remembered. The journalists at the table completed the concept. Guests were encouraged to get up from time to time to "share the power", though Dezeen observed that few journalists ever did.

Penders frames the show as part of a running practice of exposing the industry's hidden machinery. "Each exhibition offers a glimpse into our world as designers, revealing something that visitors might not normally see or consider," he told Dezeen. "In 2024, we showed our experiments and prototypes. In 2025, we focused on the ideas and concepts behind our work."

"This year, the subject is visibility. Being seen, becoming known and finding recognition for what you create. It is about the relationship between designers, their work and the media that bring it to a wider audience," he said.

What's on show around the table?

Furniture, lighting and textiles from collective members Lucas Zito, Marc Meeuwissen, Mokko and Studio Fabius Clovis, plus guest exhibitors Aleksandra Adamchyk, Kilian Vos and Pablo Octavio, fill the room with raw wood, glossy lacquer, sculptural metal and translucent glowing bioplastic. Key pieces include:

• Barricada — a new series of angular wooden stools by Meeuwissen, matching the dining table seating; like all his work, made with one tool and one material
• Plywood furniture by Studio Fabius Clovis, its uneven surface highlighted with high-gloss lacquer
• Totemic pendant lights by Zito, 3D-printed from bioplastic and playing with unexpected scale
• Room dividers by Octavio — curtain-like brushed aluminium screens whose height gives seated guests more oversight of the room than those standing, reinforcing the power imbalance
• Guest works — Adamchyk's sculptural zigzagging Waveform drawer, Vos's geological Future Fossils rugs (hung on the walls), and Octavio's stone-like but squishy Lapis lounge chair

Show Not Show launched in 2024 and has exhibited at the Kruisruimte every year since. The collective has also travelled, with presentations at the Design Biennale Rotterdam, Collectible Brussels and Milan design week.

Elsewhere at Dutch Design Week, Boris Acket and Maison the Faux staged Everything Moist Seems Alive at the MU Hybrid Art House, complete with performances from the Dutch National Opera and Ballet. For a festival that runs nine days across an entire city, The Table of Power stands out for aiming its critique inward — at the very journalists covering it.