David Artsmith  -  The drink coaster sits in a set, atop and below its fellow mates, or side by side, nestled away somewhere hidden and innocuous. Nobody notices them, and if they do, its with a hint of disdain, at the functional piece of pretension, which is just one more way the host can control the environment around you.

Then there are guests, friends, family it doesn’t really matter. They shuffle around. They sit they stand. They chat quietly with one another, waiting, but nobody really knows what for.

And then the kitchen door opens and there is the host with a tray laden with the finest beverages. Juices, sodas, seltzers and more, every refreshing treat that you can sip through a straw, all at the bequest of the patient guests.

But the coasters know what’s coming. They almost become agitated with expectation over the potential for their use. As the glasses of cold and hot liquid are handed out, the host remembers, that beautiful table top, the arm of the couch, these surfaces are vulnerable to sills, heat and condensation. Suddenly those beverage coasters arent so obscure anymore.

Thats when the coasters are slipped delicately beneath glasses, like a small army of barriers seeking only to defend your surfaces from discoloration and decay.

As the coasters spread throughout the space, they lend their colors to the room, taking on a prominence that is bellied by their diminutive stature. They are suddenly a net of color, a wide spread tapestry of tone that spreads across the space in subtle but noticeable patterns.

Now coasters are the center of attention, or at least the center of the periphery, as people are forced to attend to them, forced to notice them every time they lift their glass, every time they set it to land back on the pad. They are suddenly an interactive and important part of the experience.

Once their use is complete, once beverages have been enjoyed and guests have departed, it is time to clean them, and replace them in their proper recepticles. Now that their functionality is no longer required, they are shuffled away, forgotten and stored, waiting for another chance to serve at your lightest beck and call.

And yet these stalwart coasters remain ever ready, teeming at the bit, awaiting that not so far off day when they will be called back to the service of mankind, in the defense of perfection.