We tend to think that the so-called “archistars” are mere ideas dispensers, and that the dirty job, once the notoriety is achieved, is played by others. The American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC), which for years has promoted wood in Europe, and Benchmark collaborated to prove otherwise, designing The Wish List, an installation that will be on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum during the upcoming London Design Festival in September. Some of the best young talents in design had the chance to create, with the help of 50 carpenters of Benchmark, their personal products, but mainly the chance to work with a “stellar” list of architects, whom was asked a simple question: “What would you have always wanted in your home but you’ve never managed to find?”. To answer were some of the most important names of architecture and design, like Paul Smith, Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, and many others. The challenge was to produce each of the objects in a single material, the wood of American hardwoods, to demonstrate its versatility and the variety of results. Tools in hand, young designers and big names have actually produced their “objects of desire”, all in a week of intense handcrafted work. A few examples? The workspace in red oak and cherry wood, by Sebastian Cox for Terence Conran; the stretchable fruit ball in American walnut by Win Assakul for Amanda Levete; yet the garden shed in thermo-treated ash that Nathalie de Leval has designed for fashion icon Paul Smith. Many projects, with a careful look at the used materials and energy consumption in order to assess the environmental impact of each object, talking about young people’s desire to learn and inexhaustible creativity of the greatests.
