The Last Supper would not have been possible without the First Supper. Nearly one year ago, Andre and I shared a meal with friends at our home in Detroit. After a disastrous experiment with dinner, we settled into a conversation that was quite the opposite. It was, in fact, one of those rare moments when you realize the power of an accidental idea and the many forms it can take. Andre and Brian were from Grand Rapids; Lisa and I were not. Somewhere in the hilarity of ‘Grand Rapids talk’ – religion, race, biking, teenage anti-drug enforcement, high school rivalries (Ottawa Hills vs. East Grand Rapids), and football – was ArtPrize. It was in that mess of laughter that the Last Supper Table was conceived.

In the months that followed, the idea of designing and crafting a Last Supper Table grew. Although born out of a light-hearted conversation, it spoke to us personally and we began to fall in love. Through private commissions at Ali Sandifer Studio, we had birthed a series of tables over the years and they kept growing in size to convene more and more people. With each one that followed the First Supper, we would revisit the idea of a table inspired by the Last Supper. When ArtPrize 2014 was announced, we had already decided to make this special project happen. After ten years of designing furniture for our own studio, we were ready to take what we had learned and step aside for a moment to enter a new territory of public art.

The collection of thoughts on this blog will not capture all of our dreaming to date – and there has been a considerable amount of dreaming – but it will allow you to follow us as we turn this dream into a reality. This public platform is your invitation to join us for dinner.