Benchmarking

Installation comissioned by the Design Museum for ‘Designers in Residence’ exhibition.

Benchmarking is an extruded picnic bench that dissects the Design Museum Tank. The Installation considers the nature and role of a design museum. The bench inside the tank is made from paper, which signifies the museums responsibility to safeguard and preserve design objects that may deteriorate over time, due to the nature of the material. The bench seamlessly extends to the exterior of the tank, which is made of wood guaranteed by Lloyds of London for 20 years and is more accessible. It reflects the fact that a museum is a space in which functional, everyday objects are often displayed but cannot be used in the way in which they were originally intended, and often when they are used they are not strong enough to withstand the levels of use they get.

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  Bench-Marking-Freddie-Yaun copy

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  benchmarking_cup_edit copy

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  benchmarking_sitting copy

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  benchmarking_through tank

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  fy_edit

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  benchmarking_paper detail copy

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  benchmarking_above copy

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  edge_01

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  edge_03

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  benchmarking_reflection copy

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  benchmarking_tower bridge

I wrote a short article whilst developing the bench that you can read here. If you go down to the museum today

Thankyou to Ed Blake, Jake Hobson and Gregor Timlin for all they did towards the project.

some photos by Miranda Cavanagh.