Here's a well-considered project by Damian Byland, an ex-bike-mechanic turned Industrial Design student at Germany's Basel Academy of Art and Design.
Byland designed this Kai entryway bench not only to be attractive, but also to be easy to manufacture using a Striebig panel saw, while generating as little waste as possible.
"KAI is a simple cloakroom bench with a clear design language made of birch plywood, which is inviting thanks to the sloping seat. In the lower area it offers space for shoes."
"When designing, attention was paid to the most efficient production possible. Almost all work steps can be carried out on the Striebig panel saw. Even the kerfs needed to bend the seat to the right angle are cut there."
"KAI uses the entire length of a standard birch plywood panel of 2500 mm, so that there is as little waste as possible."
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Comments
I like the feel and the thought process behind this, and I seriously hate to be the curmudgeon here, but the center of this bench 5 years on? It will be jammed with dust, dirt, hair, coins and all manner of stuff that's in the real world (and that's if at some point someone doesn't spill their coffee they set down on it on the way out the door). Part of any good design, especially furniture design, is to imagine it after it's gotten some real usage. You can't design furniture for how you think they should use it, you have to design it for all the ways they will use (and misuse) it.
Just a thought, but could the same look be achieved without the kerf cut and bend by just joining two pieces and routing a nice radius and still get the same panel yield? Just thought it might be easier but maybe the designer already tried that.... also cleaning stuff out of where those radii come together might not be super fun...
Basel is in Switzerland, not Germany lol
"minimal waste" doesn't mean this is a good use of material, it just means all the wood used fits in a square (or board shape). You could achieve a similar bench with half the wood....