RBG Wakehurst Place Seating project
Jan 2002
Oak and woven willow
H 2.2m W 2.8m D 1.6m
This project represents the colaboration with the Willow Artist Claire Wilks and Iain Parkinson of the Royal Botanic gardens at Wakehurst place to create a willow arbour with a comfortable, solid and interesting seating area. Situated in the lowland reed bed area of Wakehurst Place, it gave the willow the ideal growing conditions to rapidly produce leaf cover. Thereby giving a pleasant, secluded and shady retreat to admire the surroundings in summer.
I was approached by Iain to design and create a seating board that would form part of the integral structure of the arbour. The seating was saddle carved in order to give excellent comfort and three defined sitting positions. The unit was cut from a large single wide board of naturally weather resistant oak, in a slight curvature to create a feeling of inclusion within the space of the arbour. To add further interest to the scheme I created the seating positions in descending sizes from large through to small, creating an illusion for the seats of "The three bears", adding an element of fun within the scheme. Encouraging the visiting public to engage with the seating in a playful and restful/relaxing manor.
