Vera Charniak

Department: Public Private
Website: veracharniak.com

Train station rituals

What: Four objects that satisfy our emotional needs while departing from, arriving at, or meeting somebody at a railway station.

Why: Railway stations are efficient machines designed to process large numbers of people. They satisfy our physical needs, but not our emotional ones.

How: By mapping people’s activities at Eindhoven railway station, Vera came up with four objects — united by the phrase ‘I want to…’ — that facilitate things we normally do at stations yet that lack a physical representation: I want to surprise (online service to send presents to someone at a station); I want to share (bookshelf); I want to prepare (sticker to remind you what to take with you); and I want to change (mirror).

“A station is an emotional setting where we say hello and goodbye” Virgile