When the first visitors step inside the new V&A East Museum at East Bank in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on 18 April, one of the first sights that will greet them is the striking and sinuous series of American red oak benches crafted bespoke for the space by the designer Andu Masebo.
With one installed in an alcove in the upper-ground entrance threshold, and another two framing the curved window into the museum’s Why We Make permanent galleries, the benches are constructed entirely from solid American red oak, introducing a note of rich natural materiality into the space.
Designed by Andu Masebo, with material and fabrication support from AHEC and craft furniture makers Benchmark, the benches showcase the sustainable application of underused timber grades, while offering V&A East Museum visitors somewhere to relax and take in their surroundings.
A showcase for sustainable timber
Andu Masebo’s choice of material has its basis in his collaboration with the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) on the 3daysofdesign exhibition No.1 Common in Copenhagen in 2025. The project saw three designers create work using timber classified as ‘No.1 Common’, an underutilised grade most often associated with cabinetry, characterised by an increased amount of surface variations in the form of colour contrast, knots, splits and irregular grain direction. Masebo’s design, the Around Table, successfully showcased the aesthetic potential, practical performance and durability of No.1 Common red oak. Impressed by the opportunity the often-overlooked timber offered to sustainable and more affordable furniture making, the designer was enthusiastic to return to the material for the V&A East project, and turned to AHEC as a material collaborator once again.
"Andu’s designs are the perfect demonstration of how underused wood grades like No.1 Common can – and should – become beautiful and functional pieces of furniture. If we are to adopt genuinely sustainable approaches to design, we need to look beyond material conventions, and identify the creative opportunities that overlooked hardwood timbers have to offer designers and architects – which is exactly what Andu Masebo has done at V&A East Museum."– David Venables, European director, AHEC
Masebo noted that the wood’s surface variations presented a unique opportunity for storytelling. Where a designer might usually opt to manage surface variations in a timber by introducing surface patches or structural butterflies, Masebo saw a chance to insert a shape into the bench that could imbue the bench with a sense of place – a visual and textural element that could connect it to its East London home.
Telling the stories of East London
To determine the narratives that would inform the benches, Masebo collaborated with cultural curator Nate Agbetu and his social practice Freeform to develop a body of research that would ensure the benches exhibited a strong and meaningful relationship with the neighbourhoods and boroughs around V&A East Museum. Based on direct experience of East London, a series of directed photo walks, Masebo and Freeform developed a bank of symbols and motifs to embed in the benches.
The research process culminated in a workshop at the Dovetail neighbourhood centre with residents of the Carpenters Estate in Newham. Here, participants were invited to decorate Masebo’s Topside Stool with their interpretations of life in East London. Many of the resulting images and patterns – as well as ideas from the conversations that were sparked around them – found their way into the V&A East Museum benches.
Some of the inserts are rooted literal representations of East London, including photos of residents, public sculptures and local wildflowers. Others are abstractions – like the outline of the river, a bollard or a signpost – or rooted in the personal and anecdotal, such as the shapes of individual hands, pets, or even the leaves that stained the concrete on the Carpenters Estate. Some are instantly recognisable, others more opaque, allowing space for interpretation, but all are contextually rooted in East London.
“A consideration for dialogue became a driving force in the design process. It’s not just about who gets to make, but whose voice is carried in the work. The aim was to invite as many people as possible into the process and to design the bench out of these conversations. The symbols and motifs that are carried in the bench are a reflection of these personalised narratives with the aim to connect with a deeper sense of belonging.” – Andu Masebo, designer
Andu Madebo’s benches can be found at V&A East Museum, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
With special thanks to Northland Forest Products and Rossi Lumber for their timber donation.