Nice video showing the making of David Rohr's Colander table.  

I won't comment on the...
I won't comment on the design or technology, the good and the bad of it is obvious but I am very enthusiastic about what seems to be a trend for designers and manufacturers to publicly show the how of things, designers speaking on the why of things is the next and more difficult proposition.
I applaud it, time for Artek to step up to the plate!

Design in a strict economical way...
is to create a difference between the costs of producing a product and the value of the final result. The greater the difference the more value has been created. This is an enormous effort and a incredible waste of material to make an object of which the cost exceeds by far the value...no matter how limited the series.
It's technological value can be neglected. These technologies existed 20 years ago and finally it's cultural value is limited to as blatantly as possible ignore the realities of the world we live in and the challenges it offers to creative and talented people.

yes, I think he was totally...
yes, I think he was totally intoxicated with his computer modelling.

Yet
another form of conspicuous consumption ?
"The workmanship of [very expensive] certainty," indeed.
The price ?

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I think its worth noting though how many people own such things as extra vehicles, boats and motorbikes which they use purely for entertainment or status value and the energy required to produce, maintain and dispose of them. Just because the consumption of those things is so commonplace doesn't mean they aren't of a comparable nature.
If producing an entrancing form was the goal using wood on a more modest scale would have been a much better choice for a project like this, the obvious comparison being the cnc cutting of the underside of the backrest/arms in Wegners chair.

Sports & Leisure is my...
Sports & Leisure is my favorite category in Trivial Pursuit. But I have a pretty good memory too, so maybe don't ask me twice what the capitol of Iceland is.
The pursuit of happiness has become these days in America a three dimensional scary illusion where our every sick lunge for a form of pleasure or desire or satisfaction - from NFL football to the newest movie to Dancing with the Stars - turns very finally upon the seeker of such things to hunger and need and fear.
I, for one, am a lazy opponent of the four day work week.
Our pursuit of happiness, I would submit, feeds itself invariably to an almost universal form of despair.
Reykjavik.

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I'm pretty happy and do not own a television, live within walking distance of a part time job and a supermarket, buy as much as I can second hand, use a public library, talk to my neighbours, go to bed early and wake up with the sun, do what made me happy as a child, spend some time surrounded by trees.
Television, hate it, hate it, hate it!
But you're right it is a horrifying merry-go-round and I wish people would just start jumping off and live a real life not a robotic commuter existence.
Why oppose the 4 day week? I'm in favour.
The colander table is really an example of the things you referred to, its like we need more and more spectacular experiences.

Well...
I, for one, welcome our new robotic commuter overlords.

Well,
it's fun and informative to see the machining done. . .

I guess we are heading toward...
I guess we are heading toward the four day work week in the USA, Heath, with proponents often citing potential benefits of energy savings, greater workplace productivity, etc.
Just thinking about a three day weekend - and that entire extra day every week to devote to the pursuit of Happiness - exhausts me.

Sounds like there is at least...
Sounds like there is at least one Morrissey fan alive and kicking 🙂
Anyone interested in the Colander table might find the Amplero Bed project worth a look. It was a fascinating project with some real depth of purpose, there is another article on it which is easy to find but is an almost impenetrable read.
http://www.laboratoriotelematico.net/archivio/La%20Bottega%20Virtuale/In...