Benches

Benches: Modern furniture design has often been influenced by the materials available, be it due to a recent innovation such as the Eames‘ use of fiber glass, or Prouve taking advantage of mass production, designers are always inspired by the materials arvailable to them.

With these benches, I was inspired by the work of George Nakashima and his use of the live edge in his furniture. Nakashima was inspired by the wood that he worked with, often keeping the natural contour of a tree evident in his work. Rather then cut off every imperfection, he made them into design elements.

Today reclaimed lumber is readily available. Old housing stock is being torn down. Old growth lumber that hasn’t seen the light of day for generations is emerging from these tear downs and that lumber has become a popular material for furniture making and interior design.

I was thinking about where the wood I was using came from. I wanted the wood in these benches to show their history, while at the same time being part of a well designed piece of furniture. I milled the wood to consistent usable dimensions. I kept nail holes visible often filling them with a contrasting color to highlight the past rather then hiding it. Often some of the marks from the original milling machines are visible. When constructing these benches I used all wood joinery, no nails or screws are used in the final construction. Above all I wanted these benches to be well constructed objects that will last a number of generations while referencing the past they came from.