Sometimes you see a product and are not quite sure if you love it or are indifferent about it. I’m not going to lie, but when I first saw Sam Jennings’ Folded Concrete Stools I was interested but aesthetically it is missing something for me.
But that isn’t to say it is not beautiful as when I began to learn more about the Concrete Canvas™ used to create the stool I became much more interested in how Sam Jennings’ mind works.
Many people have, over the years, designed and made products which challenge our way of thinking about materials. Marcel Wanders famously made a chair from knotted rope with no visible support. With this stool, Jennings is making us look at the piece and wonder in the same way as Wanders made us think ‘how does it stand up’? Of course, we’re so expose to these kind of products now that our minds tend to want to find out how the magic works but nevertheless this is still an incredible skill for a designer to achieve.
The materials which Jennings used is Concrete Canvas, a flexible cement-impregnated fabric that hardens on hydration to form a thin, durable water-proof and fire-proof concrete layer. Essentially, it’s concrete on a roll, all you have to do is Just Add Water™. It is supplied in rolls, 1.0m or 1.1m wide and in lengths up to 200sqm in three different thicknesses, 5mm, 8mm and 13mm.
Having been selected for a place at BRINK 2013, Tent London’s graduate show, Sam Jennings is able to bring his industrial product and showcase this during the London Design Festival when all eyes will be looking for the ‘new thing’ from the UK.
“I feel very taken a back, its such an exciting and amazing opportunity” says Jennings. “Being selected has given me a renewed focus and motivation since graduating.”
You can read more about BRINK at confessions of a design geek, the judge-slash-collaborator for the BRINK show.
“Meeting new designers is the best part of my job – they still believe in the impossible; and that belief is contagious. I love writing about them on confessions of a design geek and I wanted to take that offline and into the real world. I am a huge fan of Tent London, so I’m really excited about this collaboration.”
Katie Treggiden, confessions of a design geek.
BRINK will be open 19–22 September at Stand E02, Tent London, Old Truman Brewery, Hanbury Street, London E1 6QR. Pre-registration for Tent London is now open.
All photography © Yeshen Venema
Good to see the show getting some support! Happy to see my photos on here too, if it’s possible to add a credit would appreciate it! See you at the show!
Hi Yeshen, Have updated the post now with your name and link to your website. Nice photos, didn’t realise they were yours. Just got them sent with the press release. See you next week.
thanks so much Daniel!