Dezeen Magazine

Pelt by Benjamin Hubert for De La Espada

Industrial designer Benjamin Hubert's latest chair features a T-shirt-shaped piece of plywood curled smoothly into its solid ash frame.

Pelt by Benjamin Hubert for De La Espada

Tabs at the corners of the plywood fit into recesses in the solid wood components to make the surfaces level, rather than just attaching on top of them.

Pelt by Benjamin Hubert for De La Espada

"The principle is about the ply integrating with the solid timber, which is different to how most ply chairs work, where you can see a very divorced relationship between them," Hubert told Dezeen.

Pelt by Benjamin Hubert for De La Espada

The simple frame crosses beneath the seat to join the front and back legs but incorporates a complex CNC-cut twist to meet the slanted back.

Pelt by Benjamin Hubert for De La Espada

Hubert unveiled the piece at the designjunction exhibition in a former postal sorting office during the London Design Festival.

Pelt by Benjamin Hubert for De La Espada

It was created in collaboration with Portuguese manufacturer De La Espada, who last year invited Hubert to design his first complete collection.

Pelt by Benjamin Hubert for De La Espada

This year De La Espada gave him a large stand at designjunction where he created an installation with thousands of cuts and folds, and showed new work including the Tenda lamp made of underwear fabric that we featured earlier this week.

Pelt by Benjamin Hubert for De La Espada

In his talk at Dezeen Live, a series of shows we presented at the 100% Design trade show that week, Hubert explained how the lamps are the first product he's producing under his own brand. Read more in our earlier story here.

Pelt by Benjamin Hubert for De La Espada

The London Design Festival took place from 14-23 September and you can see all our stories about it here, or listen to designers explain their projects in their own words with our audio guide here.

Pelt by Benjamin Hubert for De La Espada

See all our stories about Benjamin Hubert »
See all our stories about De La Espada »
See all our stories about plywood »

Pelt by Benjamin Hubert for De La Espada