BRC Designs - Benjamin Rollins Caldwell

“Risen in 30 Days” is a furniture collection in which concrete is poured into holes in the ground which serve as the mold for each individual piece.  As the name suggests, each piece remains in its grave for 30 days and then is risen to life.  Each unique acid stained zombie furniture piece stands on stainless steel rods.

Designer Benjamin Rollins Caldwell spent two months in Ghana, Africa apprenticing in a fantasy design coffin workshop during the fall of 2011.  The act of creating intricate, well thought out functional coffins, which were then quickly buried (in concrete lined graves) never to be seen again; ignited the idea for this furniture concept.  Caldwell wanted to create furniture which would be created in the ground, but resurrected and enjoyed and experienced for a lifetime.  Unlike the design coffins, Caldwell sought uncontrollable variables, thus letting the zombies take on a life of their own.  Each zombie grave was dug and lined with plastic sheeting which folded and wrinkled in areas, creating the unique surface textures and variations in the final concrete form.  Once the zombies were risen from the ground with the help of a Bobcat and forklifts, each piece was acid stained creating a surface which resembles a zombie’s rotten and bloody flesh.  In keeping with the experimental nature of the project, each piece is identified as “Test Subject” followed by the first letter or two letters of the furniture piece (Ie: C for chair , S for sofa) followed by the weight of the piece and the julian date of when the zombie came to its final embodiment.

The Cellular Chair by mathias bengtsson

composed of light-weight epoxy, ‘cellular chair’ by danish-born, london-based designer mathias bengtsson 
not only adopts the appearance of an organic form but is actually designed based on the growth principles of human bones.

the exterior shape of the chair is pre-set, but the interior geometric structure is determined uniquely for each piece 
by a computer program designed to simulate the regeneration of bone tissue. given the exterior form as its input, 
the program creates the cellular configuration that bone tissue might adopt to create a strong, stable construction.

bengtsson notes, ‘I aim to take my thinking in new directions and to break down established boundaries 
between design, craft, and technology by combining unconventional tools in the creation of my works. 
everything about our time inspires me, especially technology and its evolution.’

The Enignum III Chair by Joseph Walsh

In the Enignum series of work, I have stripped wood into thin layers, manipulating and reconstructing them into free form compositions. I then shape through these layers to reveal not only the honesty of the structure but the sculpted form which is a unique collaboration of man and material. The title derives from the Latin words Enigma (‘mystery’) and Lignum (‘wood’), for me they sum up the series: the mystery of the composition lies in the material.

The surface of the chair is completely covered with a collage of motherboards, computer chips, lcd screens and hard drive disks held in place by sheet metal screws. The chair also has an interactive quality as the hard drive disks can be spun, the telephone keys and other buttons can be pressed, and the antennae raised and adjusted.

The Functional, Nonfunctional Hammer Chair - Made entirely of old piano hammers and the back of piano keys, this chair has the integrity to support a person’s weight; However, you would rather be beaten by hammer than sit in this chair due to its uncomfortable nature. This is purely an aesthetic piece, meant to be wall hung, mimicking the shaker tradition of hanging chairs on the wall and out of the way when its not in use.

The Interweb Chair is composed of a frame made from 1 inch blue plastic sheeting and a seat which uses the inner dielectric core from coax cables weaved through 64 grounding bars. The Coax cables were found in an abandoned warehouse and taken back to the studio where the black outer sheath and woven copper shield were removed, exposing the white Core. The blue plastic was originally bathroom stall dividers in an old Mill. When the Mill was demolished, BRC Designs salvaged these bright blue panels.