• Home >
• News Centre >
• Press releases >
• release

The creative collaboration between the Design Development Director of Established & Sons, Sebastian Wrong, and artist Richard Woods continues with the "Bench Press" seating installation for the entrance foyer of the V&A Museum, the hub for this year's London Design Festival.

The creative collaboration between the Design Development Director of Established & Sons, Sebastian Wrong, and artist Richard Woods continues with the "Bench Press" seating installation for the entrance foyer of the V&A Museum, the hub for this year's London Design Festival.

Designed in American tulipwood, the project marks the second stage in Established & Sons' working relationship with the American Hardwood Export Council. At this year's Milan Furniture Fair 30 tonnes of American tulipwood were used to create the 'walled settlement' conceived by Wrong to show Established & Sons' fifth furniture collection. Some of this timber has been recycled for "Bench Press" as part of an ongoing project around the versatility and sustainability of this American hardwood species.

Four pieces, one for each corner of the V&A's lofty foyer and created as mirror images, reflect the design partners' fascination with the relationship between the functional and the ornamental.  Combining tulipwood's natural grain with Wood's signature decorative paint finish, Wrong's seating design was inspired by the foyer's grand architrave, with his uncompromising, simple lines created by 'layering' lengths of tulipwood up to 3metres long. Wood's graphic technique, for which he uses household paints, emphasises the straight, clean lines of the pieces, with his unique approach producing a wide palette of strong colours, including turquoise, yellow and red.  And some lengths have been left as natural tulipwood to show the timber's grain and distinctive gold to green tones.  Studio Caparo, specialists in working with designers on one-off pieces, constructed the installation at their South London workshop, working closely with Wrong and Woods on the realisation of their design.

Sebastian Wrong describes the installation: "Using the tulipwood boards from the Milan show installation, we have constructed and printed a three tier bench which references the many tiered plaster cornice around the central atrium of the V&A, directly above the bench positions. The work intentionally corrupts the high Victorian architecture of the surrounding area by misaligning the order of the space, juxtaposing the tiered benches, exposing the open ends and discontinuing the mitred corners to create a hole.  Layers of wood grain paint have been applied in areas; end grain, side lengths and full boards are exposed print surfaces, as well as being 'sandwiched' into the construction."

This is the second year for AHEC at the London Design Festival. Last year architect David Adjaye led the way in repositioning tulipwood, when he chose this timber for his stunning 'Sclera' pavilion. This year's collaboration with Established & Sons is a further chapter in the story of tulipwood's rise from utilitarian species to featured timber for a number of high profile projects.

For AHEC's European Director David Venables, working with the country's leading artists, designers and architects is providing a rich vein of new applications for tulipwood. He says: "This is a simply stunning installation and it marks a further stage in our working relationship with Established & Sons which began in Milan and which we want to continue with further projects. This collaborative approach is at the heart of our strategy for showcasing American hardwoods through cutting edge design."

-- ends --

Notes to Editor:

American Hardwood Export Council
The American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) is the leading international trade association for the US hardwood industry, representing the committed exporters among US hardwood companies and all the major US hardwood product trade associations. AHEC concentrates it efforts on providing architects, specifiers, designers and end-users with technical information on the range of species, products and sources of supply.

AHEC produces a full range of technical publications which are available free of charge by visiting www.americanhardwood.org or by faxing (44) 20 7626 4222.

For more press information, please contact:

Lucy Peacock (lucy.peacock@ahec.co.uk)
American Hardwood Export Council
Tel:    (44) 20 7626 4111
Fax:    (44) 20 7626 4222