The bench project

My love of outdoor benches has already been documented on this blog in a Lisbon street report. So one of my highlights of the London Design Festival opening at the V&A last week was Bench Years, a collection of 10 outdoor seats which the LDF produced in collaboration with Established & Sons. I had to get past an assortment of elbows, ankles and i-phones to bring you evidence of my picks, starting with Plinth by Kim Colin and Sam Hecht of Industrial Facility.

Made from Corian, this was a real hulk so details such as the inset handle are a sort of trick – you’re never going to pick that thing up.The designers also referenced the same shapes you could see inside the V&A, hence the name I think.

Next, A-Bench by Felix de Pass, based on a original piece of furniture that Felix produced for Established & Sons last year.

The folded sheet metal had a lovely perforated top designed to aid water draining. Practical guy that Alex.

And on to the next Alex – I loved the neon colour on Alexander Taylor’s Tube.

The shape is inspired by felled woodland logs and the super shiny surface got a good buffing by all the bums trying it out. Not sure that was part of the concept though.

Next, Bench Of Plates by AL_A – Amanda Levete’s architectural practice.

I loved this one so you’re getting a nice detail shot too.

Taking inspiration from the V&A’s ceramic collection (which is great by the way, if you haven’t visited lately) the design practice worked with a ceramics company in Barcelona to create the colourful glazed plates that make up this bench. They’re stacked in a similar way to roof shingles.

Far and away the most comfortable bench in the collection was the Infinity Bench by Martino Gamper.

Made from different American hardwoods to give it a nice varied texture, it was actually incredibly long though Martino said he designed something that could be a one-seater  or a ten-seater depending on the situation.

Tune in later in the week for part 2 of our V&A highlights.

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