See more objects with the tag furniture, stools, folded, rectilinear, hinge, transformation, plank.

See more objects with the color darkslategrey cadetblue teal darkslategrey lightsteelblue or see all the colors for this object.

Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1993

  • Work on this object began.

2004

  • Work on this object ended.

2015

2024

  • You found it!

Plank Furniture

This is a Plank furniture. It was designed by Heatherwick Studio and Thomas Heatherwick and manufactured by Benchmark Furniture. It is dated 1993–2004. Its medium is olive, ash, metal.

Can a piece of wood also be a piece of furniture?
Seeking to transform a single wood plank into a piece of furniture, the studio experimented with folding long pieces of paper at slight angles, finding that two ends could go past each other instead of colliding and that this produced a spiral form with a curious rotational symmetry. The result: an ordinary-looking plank hinged so it can fold into a side table or seat. Its precisely crafted joints are almost invisible when the piece is opened out. Heatherwick made the first two versions of Plank by hand; it is now produced and marketed by Benchmark.

It is credited Courtesy of Heatherwick Studio.

  • Spun
  • spun metal.
  • Courtesy of Heatherwick Studio.
  • HSP.22
  • Extrusions
  • extruded electroless-nickleplated aluminum.
  • Courtesy of Heatherwick Studio.
  • HSP.25

Our curators have highlighted 1 object that are related to this one.

Its dimensions are

H x W x D (fully extended): 198.4 × 22.5 × 2.5 cm (6 ft. 6 1/8 in. × 8 7/8 in. × 1 in.) H x W x D (partially extended): ? x 121 × 22.5 cm (47 5/8 in. × 8 7/8 in.) H x W x D (closed): ? x 61 × 44 cm (24 in. × 17 5/16 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/85006401/ |title=Plank Furniture |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=23 November 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>