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In the Schilderswijk district between the Falck, Koninginne and Naaldwijkse Streets is a green city square: the Fakonahof. Children from the neighbourhood can play there with toys available in a pavilion that looks like an enlarged golden crown in the middle of the square. They can also sit down for a pleasant chat. For that purpose, there is an enormous bench at the edge of the city square near the Falckstraat. With its length of no less than 55 metres, it offers enough room for everyone.

This bench was created by artist Marijke Gémessy. Like much of her work, this monumental seating element is also made of colourful ceramics. Inspired by the composition of the population in this neighbourhood, Gémessy decorated the bench with eighteen different carpets with various patterns. Not real fabric rugs, but prints on ceramic tiles with porcelain edges. The carpets make the bench reminiscent of the low seats of carpets and cushions that you find in Turkey and Morocco, where you are invited to drink tea.

Although Gémessy graduated as a painter from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, she soon made the step to ceramics. Immediately after her studies, she was active as a porcelain painter at the famous Delft Blue factory De Porseleinen Fles in Delft. Recurring themes in her work are animal suffering, overconsumption and a longing for days gone by. In many of her sculptures she combines found materials with ceramics. Since 1990 she has regularly added neon to them. Her fascination for Byzantine and modern mosaic is also characteristic. This fascination is certainly also reflected in her monumental works in public spaces. This metre-long bench is a good example of this.