“East London has a great creative atmosphere”
– Gitta Gschwendtner

Designer Gitta Gschwendtner talks about making her Bodge Bench for the Stepney Green Design Collection and east London’s “great creative atmosphere” in this movie filmed by Dezeen.

Gschwendtner is originally from Germany but has been living in London for over 20 years and has worked from her studio in Hackney, east London, for 12 years.

She worked outdoors using rustic wood-crafting methods to create the two-seater bench from her Bodge series, and the one-off three-seater bench for the collection is based on this design.

“Bodging is a very traditional chair-making technique where you use green timbers and no electricity, working in the woods with hand lathes and axes,” explains Gschwendtner.

The Bodge series also features a two-seater and six-seater bench, as well as a single chair, all made using the same technique in a similar style. The other pieces are all made from oak but this special-edition bench has been crafted out of English olive ash.

The Stepney Green Design Collection consists of 10 products selected by Marcus Fairs of Dezeen from creatives who live near to VIVO, a new housing development in the east London district. The project also includes objects chosen by east London bloggers Pete Stean of Londoneer and Kate Antoniou of Run Riot.

The collection is on show at the Genesis Cinema, 93-95 Mile End Road, Whitechapel, London E1 4UJ, from 10am to 10pm every day until January. After this, the objects will be given to VIVO residents.

See all the items in the Stepney Green Design Collection here and watch the movies we’ve featured so far here. The music featured in the movies is by American designer and musician Glen Lib. You can listen to the full track on Dezeen Music Project.

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