What began as a straightforward design brief — a bench for guests to sit and remove their shoes, and a way to direct energy within the home inward and upward — quickly evolved into something more. From initial pencil sketches to digital renders, scale models, and finally the finished bench in Claro walnut, the process was went through round after round of development. In this journal entry, we trace that journey from concept to completion.

The photos above show early concept sketches for the Pacific Bench. The final sketch — distinguished by a continuous curve that rises from the front right leg to the upper left peak — became the foundation for the finished design.

There were serious technical difficulties with making this bench as well. The biggest was how to accomplish the central sweeping curve of the seat and back? Wood can bend, but only so much. Trial and error brought us to the final process which involved both steam and bent laminations, eventually working with neighbor, friend and collaborator Theo Des Tombe of Homestead Logging and Milling to cut the massive pieces of veneer.

An early design for the bench that we developed out before ultimately rejecting in favor of the final. This one had a back which we felt cut into the usable space of the bench, and took away a bit of the simplicity of it’s single curve. There very well may still be a design here waiting to be born, but that will have to be for a project down the road.