It has been mentioned before here on upcycleDZINE. A natural material like wood is often taken for granted. People often don’t think about the origin of the furniture they’ve purchased. Although we all know the stories about enormous areas of Rainforest being chopped down every day. The first time I’ve visited the Salone International del Mobile in Milan was in 2013. There was an abundance of beautiful furniture completely or partially made out of wood. Most of the brands could not or would not tell me where their wood originally came from. In a way I was just looking for productinfo like you see on many other product packaging like for instance food.
After noticing this I started looking for furniture made out of discarded/reclaimed wood. And subsequently this led me to upcycle design where I found, and still find, unique furniture and lighting made with reclaimed and discarded wood showing beauty, character and a story. And this is why I started upcycleDZINE.

Water Tower turned into timeless furniture

On to upcycle design and in this case furniture. The design you’re seeing here is created by BELLBOY and is called ‘Water Tower Chair‘. BELLBOY is a contemporary furniture studio founded by Mat Driscoll in 2010 and based in Brooklyn | New York.

The name of this very original and stylish upcycle design already gives away its origin. A low lying lounge chair made from reclaimed timbers of a historic New York City water tower. The chair is constructed out of 95 individual pieces of redwood. The entire piece is sculpted by hand and rests on a patinated steel base.

Photo © Rosenwach Group

One can still see a lot of water towers in New York. Wooden structures that look like they’re from the past. In the 1800s more buildings got taller than 6 stories and needed a solution to handle the water pressure. That’s why they started to build these water towers. According to StreetEasy, water towers have a life span of about 30 years and there are still 15,000 buildings using them today.
The Water Tower Chair was part of the 12 x 12 project. The project supplies twelve contemporary designers with the salvaged material of twelve demolished New York City buildings. And Bellboy took that salvaged material, being beautiful rich Redwood, and cut it into small pieces. By doing that those pieces showed its beautiful wood texture and grain. After adjoining all the pieces an amazing pattern revealed itself. Together with the form of the chair the result is a very impressive timeless design piece.

Mat Driscoll:

“We believe that furniture is one of the most intimate things in a home, and that timeless design offers the owner an opportunity to add meaning to each object and space. It is important that our works be simple and imaginative, while also employing exquisite craftsmanship, elegant proportions and the highest quality materials. Each piece is created in our Brooklyn workshop and is informed by classic furniture making techniques.”

Photos © BELLBOY

Who would have thought that wood form a demolished historic structure could be upcycled into such an inviting comfy looking lounge chair?

Design by BELLBOY | Facebook