
About the making
Woodland inspiration
Originally conceived as reception seating for Neal’s Yard Remedies’ HQ in Dorset, its design start point was the inspiration of a pile of logs.
This simple concept evolved quickly into the idea of a bale of wood.
Celebrating nature
The end cross sections celebrate the fact that only in nature is it possible to have multiple pieces of the same material featuring a different colour, a different diameter and a different character, something that would be almost impossible to recreate in mass production.
We then explored what if we were to create tension between the random nature of the hazel material and the simplicity and perfection of a cube or rectangle.
Inherently sustainable
We use coppiced Hazel from the Gloucestershire. Coppicing is a sustainable way of harvesting wood as branches are cut without killing the entire tree.
Each piece is a labour of love, the skill is creating a perfect cube or bench out of a collection of random and differently sized pieces.
It takes true artistry to lay up the twigs so that they are random yet uniformly random.