Take 10 of the world’s top architects and designers and ask them what they have always wanted for their homes but never had. Take 10 up-and-coming designers and ask them to make these items, on the only condition that they have to be made from American hardwood.
This was the idea of the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) and British furniture manufacturer, Benchmark. It produced the “Wish List” installation, exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum during the London Design Festival from 13th September to 24th October last.
Sir Terence Conran, one of the giants of British design and a co-founder of furniture maker Benchmark, got people like Paul Smith, Norman Foster, Amanda Levete, John Pawson, Alison Brooks, Zaha Hadid, Alex de Rijke, Richard and Ab Rogers, and Allen Jones to reveal their sought-after object.
The result was an extraordinary spread of items, as diverse in size as they were in purpose - and a great opportunity to prove the enormous versatility of wood and the amazing results that can be achieved with a single material. As part of AHEC’s ongoing research into life cycle impacts for wood products, a full life cycle assessment was generated for each piece and all details are available on www.wishlistldf.info.Conran himself commissioned his own heart’s desire from designer and cabinetmaker Sebastian Cox: a secluded workspace in which to write and draw, a cocoon like desk and cabinetry surrounded by curved screens that can be opened or closed depending on user mood. Made from American red oak and cherry, “Getting Away from It All”, the name given to the project, required a particularly complex construction process and considerable skill, especially when it came to the woven curved screens and the cupboard roll-top.
Alison Brooks, the award-winning London architect, chose cherry wood for its tight grain and rich colour tones for her wish-list piece: “A Stool for the...
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Craig Dykers
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