Benches Echo

Unlike the analytical approach that usually defines Studio Beeks, the Bench began without a plan. The aluminium profiles were taken from the waste stream of Nedal, not with a specific object in mind, but because of an interest in the form of the profiles and the diversity of shapes that aluminium can take.

Back in the workshop, the material suggested a bench. A wooden base was a natural starting point within the studio’s way of working: furniture is typically built from laminated beams and solid blocks, assembled into structures rather than shaped from a single piece.

The first version of the bench was made simply by placing the available wooden elements together on the workbench, without cutting or further processing them. The proportions and construction emerged from what was already there. Only once the basic form had revealed itself did the direction become clear.

The recognisable elements of Studio Beeks were then applied to the design: rounded edges, solid laminated oak elements and a construction that keeps the relationship between its parts visible. The result brings together two very different materials and origins: industrial aluminium recovered from a waste stream and solid oak shaped through the studio’s established way of building.

The Bench was developed as part of Echo, a collective exploring how existing waste streams can become the starting point for new design objects and furniture.