PYLON Seating Bench & Stool by Marcus Abrahamsson & Kristoffer Fagerström for NOLA (2010) (photo by Jann Lipka) - Copyright: © NOLA, Marcus Abrahamsson, Kristoffer Fagerström, Jann Lipka

PYLON Seating Bench & Stool by Swedish designers Marcus Abrahamsson & Kristoffer Fagerström from NOLA (2010)

The PYLON Seating Bench & Stool were created by young Swedish designers Marcus Abrahamsson & Kristoffer Fagerström and developed commercially by NOLA INDUSTRIER AB in 2010. They were first presented at the Stockholm Furniture Fair (February 2011).

The PYLON comes in both an outdoor and an indoor version with a white steel base and in a choice of woods for the seat.  The outdoor version seat comes in oiled/non-colored wood while the standard selection of colors for the wooden batons/beams of the indoor version is: blue, green, magenta, yellow and orange.

The first edition of the PYLON Bench & Stool (2009) was developed by Marcus Abrahamsson & Kristoffer Fagerström under a different name (i.e. “FRAME”) for their Bachelor graduation project in the Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts & Design. At the time, they had won the furniture competition for the new Konstfack Restaurant/Café and they undertook to design its exterior spaces along with a permanent furniture setting which was to be presented at the opening at Konstfack Spring Exhibition (May 2009).

Their inspiration for the twin upright steel base of the PYLON Bench & Stool that anchors the seat to the floor was derived “from the pylon towers that support power lines … Two layers of thick pine slats are glued together to form the seat, which is gripped between the upper reaches of the base supports.” The idea is that the wooden batons/beams can be replaced by future students when they will become worn-out or outdated, so that these students can give their own design interpretation of the benches and of the space, in general.

In the designers’ own words: “On the basis of our new professional role as interior architects and furniture designers, in our degree project we have taken on Konstfacks Outdoor Café. The project has been an opportunity to work on this location as a whole and to design a series of site specific items of outdoor furniture.

The current concrete floor, which is part of the main entrance to Konstfack, has been converted from a windy no-man’s land to a well kept and pleasant outdoor café. Through clear choices of materials and generous design, we have made it into a place for relaxation and spending time together in the sun. No pretentions, just a nice lunch in pleasant company.

With the aim of creating an interdisciplinary space, we have created a framework that lets the space react to influences and allows it to change over time. In the future, when the wood content of this framework is worn out, it is up to the current students to decide the content. By this, we hope that the space will develop into a collage of materials. We are leaving something behind us that not only represents us and Konstfack at present but can also represents Konstfack in the future …”

The Outdoor Cafe at Konstfack was awarded the I.D’s Design Distinction Award/ “Best Student Work” at I.D Annual Design Review 2010 while the “FRAME” Bench was characterized by the I.D. Magazine as one of ”The year’s sharpest products”.  Judge Manuel Miranda explains: “It shows that with a very simple set of materials—and without changing them much—you can create this playful, optimistic situation.”

In 2010, Marcus Abrahamsson & Kristoffer Fagerström were also commissioned to provide 5 “FRAME” Benches (the precursors/forerunners of the “PYLON” Benches) to the Uppsala Resecentrum (Uppsala Travel Centre). They were asked to fill the FRAME modules with swedish pine painted in the colors of the property owner Jernhusen AB. This project is one of the largest architectural projects in the history of the city Uppsala (Interior Architects: Wester & Elsner – see photo below by Jenny Söderström).

Sources: www.nola.se, www.marcusabrahamsson.com, www.kfagerstrom.se

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