David Laird, Honest Bench Seat (RECYCLED & RESCUED 2023)

Photos:

Richard Lord

Country:

New Zealand

The Honest Bench seat is constructed using traditional materials & techniques along with some modern ones. The bench is hand made from one English walnut slab that has been sourced from Hanging Rock, South Canterbury. The slab has been cut into three strips leaving the natural edges & planed flat. The strength of the bench comes from machining a mitre lock joint to form a beam like structure. When the slab was reunited, I has grain matched the slab to give the appearance from the front elevations of a solid piece of timber. The bench is fitted with Elm legs turned from a fallen Elm tree. The legs are fitted to the bench using double wedged through tapered mortice & tenon joints additionally fixed using traditional hide glue. English White Oak dovetail keys have been used to splits that have occurred to the slab in the drying process. All of the timber used has been sourced within Canterbury & is great examples of the early plantings brought to New Zealand. The timber has been sourced from the raw product & I have managed the seasoning process using air drying & finishing in a solar kiln. Central to the design is to have the smallest footprint possible & constructing quality joints to ensure the bench will last to sequester carbon for long as possible. W 18100mm x D 300mm x H 440mm. Finished with naturally derived oil & wax finishes. This bench has been designed to be used as a dinning bench, or as occasional seating. www.davidlairdchairbler.co.nz

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.