BENCH
NO. 17
A REIMAGINED CLASSIC
Design:
Márk Nagy-Mihály
She met her husband in the park on a spring afternoon. Exhausted from dancing, they sat down next to each other and mingled in conversation next to the gingerbread vendor’s stall. They returned to the same place many times later, watching the comings and goings around them and listening to the carousel creaking louder year after year. Their children stuffed the sausage in their mouths here, pushing each other on the red mustard-stained slats. She barely noticed that the years passed and the kids were no longer sitting with them but with others. Yet she was here as if this place was more than a bench in an ever-changing world.
A reborn version of a classic bench
The red bench was and somewhere still is an iconic item of the parks in Hungary. For many decades, these benches defined the atmosphere of our parks and through them our moods. Bench No. 17 brings this feeling back with a refreshed air. It creates a pleasant longing for something that was never gone.
Memorable encounters
Bench No. 17’s classic shape evokes memories in all of us. A memory of a summer afternoon when you forgot about time while reading a book, or of a phone number scratched on the slat, that you saw so many times you decided to call, or of the first beer with your best friend. It’s as if you’re reuniting with an old acquaintance who seems to have not changed at all, only when looking at the old photos, do you realize that they’ve become completely different, only somehow they’ve evolved together with time.
Your red bench
Everyone has a story connected to a bench in a park, and we want this experience to be a part of our lives for a long time to come! Let everyone have a red bench! One that is beautiful, comfortable and not even necessarily red!
Really modern
The structure and character of Bench No. 17 are inspired by the classic Hungarian red bench. Its design is modern and due to its well-functioning seat geometry and quality materials, it also meets today’s needs in all its features.
Its high performance concrete legs and the seating surface of varnished ash, thermo ash or painted pine can stand the rigors of weather and usage for a long time. Its surface is easy to clean with common cleaning agents.
Its slats are installed on its legs, so the wooden seating is easy to maintain and can be transported or replaced in two parts.
Seating color samples
How it was made
When designing Bench No. 17, we kept two important aspects in mind: simplicity and careful design. It is a self-explanatory object made of slats laid on concrete legs, that is accessible to everyone. The bench can be installed really quickly by two people without the help of any machine, the parts are interchangeable and no special tools are required for assembly. The slats are fixed with precision to the finely crafted concrete elements, and the seat geometry works well with most body sizes and positions.
The photographer of Bench No. 17, Réka Bohus, took some of the pictures on the website on film with analog technology. Just as the modern design of the bench blends subtly with a retro effect, the main goal of photography was to bring together the modern and the retro, for which it was very important to choose the right location, characters, and styling. Photographing on a film reel played a key role in capturing the mood: thus, the fictional world that emerged through the imaging tool became authentic. A special feature of the Kodak GOLD ISO 200 film is that the nostalgic mood of the images is enhanced by the warm and strong hues.