Bethan Laura Wood at hotelRCA

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Bethan Laura Wood
Particle, 2009

Particle is a range of furniture designed during Bethan Wood’s residency at London’s Design Museum. Bethan took her inspiration from the Design Museum’s location, at Butlers Wharf, overlooking the River Thames. Investigating the historical usage of the building and the site, she discovered that it had been a banana warehouse, when the Port of London was the main site for importing and exporting all manner of goods to the UK from around the world. In response, Bethan has created a furniture system based on the visual aesthetic of crates and packaging materials. This range of interlocking and stacking units has been designed to fit within the Museum’s café area, while the differing combinations of units allows flexibility for the space. Bethan wants to encourage visitors to use and examine the pieces up close. Particle is an extension of Bethan’s Super Fake series. With this new series she has continued to use laminates as the main surface fabric of the design, this time sourcing a wide range of faux wood-laminate variations, kindly donated by Abet Laminati. Bethan has re-appropriated the wood laminates to create a new pattern inspired by particleboard (OSB Board), a material that is often considered low quality and mundane, transforming it into a surface pattern that is “original” and eye-catching. Her aim is to encourage the user to reconsider the beauty of materials often consigned to temporary or low-cost construction solutions. The pattern has been developed so as to facilitate the use of various sized off-cuts and samples. The laminate is laser-cut into shapes and interwoven, much like a patchwork, a jigsaw, or more traditional marquetry surfaces. Instead of containing “imported goods”, these laminated “crates” have been designed to hold glass or foam components, which dictate each units’ function. The foam inserts have been upholstered with a bespoke knit fabric, the pattern being a further re-interpretation of the foam itself, made in collaboration with Giannina Capitani. With Particle, Bethan aims to celebrate the intrinsic qualities of lowly, industrial materials, so as to encourage the user to look at the quality of these materials in a new light. Particle is sponsored by Abet Laminati.

Hard Rock landscape furniture, from the series Super Fake, 2009

"Bethan Wood is fascinated by the everyday surfaces and objects that make up cities. For her, the city is a mass produced world made of layer upon layer of complicated elements, which, due to the scale of the city, are often overlooked. The collection Super Fake is based on working with ‘city fakes’ the walls, floors and counter tops, used to emulate a desired surface, but which never seem to escape being classed as a second rate citizen to their ‘real’ counterparts. The pieces aim to celebrate laminates - ‘the chameleons of the surface world’, to evoke a feeling of detail and distance, and allow for escapism in the city. Hard Rock was designed to evoke a slice of landscape, the form plays with the ambiguity of natural environments. Inviting the user to explore the shape rather then being told the exact use for each section. The furniture uses a marquetry technique to celebrate all the different qualities of the standard laminates used, treating each one like a rare wood veneer rather then a cheap substitute. "

Soft Rock scarves, from the series Super Fake, 2009

"Each scarf is based on a different rock or mineral. The outer edge of the scarf is dictated by the form of the rock rather then the conventional shape, allowing each to be worn in a different manner. Sponsored by Abet Laminati "

bethan@woodlondon.co.uk
+447754064070