74 | Feature: AHEC Discovered
SUMMARY
■Discovered followed AHEC’s Connected project
■Finished pieces were exhibited at the London Design Museum
■Species used were red oak, cherry and maple
■Benchmark is putting Pascal Hien’s Migo 01 into production
DISCOVERING DIVERSITY
In AHEC’s Discovered project young design talent worldwide explored the technical performance and aesthetic potential of lesser-used US hardwoods. Mike Jeffree reports
The Connected furniture design initiative, organised mid-pandemic 2020 by the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC), attracted international media coverage. But AHEC felt the project could be taken further and its remit broadened to support and inspire young creatives in the use of US hardwoods worldwide. So Discovered, a collaboration with international design magazine Wallpaper, was born.
Connected, which featured in TTJ, put eight leading designers across Europe and one in Japan to a serious test. It challenged them to create tables and seating adapted to the living/work space that homes had become for so many during Covid-19 lockdown.
The reference to the pandemic could be
taken further in the fact that it heightened awareness of the intimate connection between human health and well-being and environmental impacts of human activity. In Connected, designers were to use one or more of three lesser-used US hardwood species; cherry, red oak and maple. The emphasis was on minimising supply stress on market- leading varieties and making best use of what the forest provides – working in tune with the environment.
In another sign of the testing times, liaison between designer and producer, the UK’s Benchmark Furniture, had to be entirely remote, via phone, Zoom, Teams or FaceTime.
Connected culminated in an exhibition of the finished pieces at the London Design Museum, which had also helped support and liaise with the designers throughout the project. The stunning creations, said AHEC European director David Venables, reflected the “inventiveness, imagination and creativity of the designers in exceptionally demanding circumstances”. It also underlined “the versatility of the material and the timber knowledge, hi-tech processing and craft skills of Benchmark”.
It was in reflecting on the success of Connected that the seeds of Discovered were sown.
“Connected was inspirational and we started to think, as it addressed issues that are global, why not develop a truly global design project, co-ordinated through AHEC’s worldwide team,” said Mr Venables. “At the same time we thought we must engage emerging design talent. Connected highlighted the exceptional abilities and vision of established creatives. But it’s increasingly appreciated that the new generation of designers have found the pandemic toughest of all. They’ve been deprived of the platforms that give their work exposure just as they’re setting out on their creative journey. This is also the generation that will really be confronted by the social and consumption changes we have to make in the face of the climate crisis – and, in forcing us to make dramatic changes itself, the pandemic has focused minds on the fact that those required to mitigate climate change will be more radical still.”
Above: Discovered at the Design Museum PHOTO: THOM ATKINSON TTJ | November/December 2021 |
www.ttjonline.com
These initial thoughts crystallised as Discovered following an article in
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