2010, Prototype, Materials: plywood, Birch plywood, polyester rope, PVC, 42X92X32 cm
Courtesy of the designer

This bench is part of a series of furniture pieces assembled from elements made ofwood, joined together by the tension of ropesmade of felt. The rope is passed through grooves crossing over the different facets ofthe bench and combining all of the elements into a rigid structure. The rope bench was developed as an alternative method of assembling furniture sold in flat packaging,and offers clear directions for assembling,without the necessity of tools. By not using glue, screws or any other joining material,combined with using rope as a connecting element, the user can easily assemble or disassemble the bench at any given time, comparable to assembling a puzzle.

Inherent in Yoav Reches's bench is the "give and take" when considering the element of practicality. The rope exists outside the benchas a separate and independent entity, who senatural function has been eliminated. Hereit is used to provide a decorative element joining one material to another. The grooves created by the ropes in the bench resemble the texture of wood, but they are also used to produce a new material: wood-ropewhich gives rise to the question of the actual usefulness of the object. The knowledge that the object under consideration is a bench suggests its possible function.

Yoav Reches (b. 1978 in Israel) is an industrial designer living and working in London. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Industrial Design at Bezalel and of the Royal Collegeof Art (RCA) in London. In the past, he was alecturer at Bezalel, Shenkar and the Holon Institute of Technology, and also served asan advisor to Samsung and IDEO. His works have been widely shown in design exhibitions around the world, such as Design Week in Milan and the London Design Festival.

Photos: Itay Benit