Bench Press by Sebastian Wrong and Richard Woods
V&A Project
19 — 27 Sept 2009
In 2009 Sebastian Wrong, alongside artist Richard Woods, designed a series of three-tier benches occupying all four corners of the V&A dome. The colourful installation was designed to juxtapose the Victorian architecture of the space.
This series of benches were the product of collaboration between Established & Sons’ Sebastian Wrong and artist Richard Woods, using American tulipwood. Presented in the entrance dome of the V&A this colourful piece of design combined the natural grain of the tulipwood with Wood’s iconic and graphic aesthetic. Sebastian Wrong intentionally corrupted the Victorian interior architecture of the surrounding area by ‘misaligning the order of the space’. The tiered benches combined exposed open ends and discontinued mitred joints to create gaps in the finished piece. Layers of wood grain print were applied by Richard Woods to parts of the end grain, side lengths and full boards as well as being sandwiched into the construction, melding the natural grain of the tulipwood and Wood’s iconic design. Their constructed form referenced the tiered plaster cornice work around the central atrium of the V&A, directly above the place where the benches were presented. The jointing details were exposed showing the high level of craftsmanship of the colourful 3-meter long benches. Supported by AHEC.
)
)
)
)
)
)