Sitting Pretty, Sandstone + Plastic Bench 1 and 2

Responding to the geology of the Isle of Bute, Dress for the Weather x Stefanie Cheong’s two seats are formed from a monolithic piece of Devonian sandstone, dating back around 400 million years.

Inspired to design a bench that disrupts classical proportions of the pleasure garden and carefully cultivated and ordered landscapes often found surrounding stately homes, DftW x SC bring together the ancient and modern to create brilliantly solid chunky seats. The geological past and the most ubiquitous pollutants of our Anthropecene era, plastic are brought together. Working with Bute’s Ambrisbeg quarry, DftW x SC salvaged sandstone from a demolished church which they then tooled in to bench-like forms. The plastic inlay is 100% recycled packaging and provides a wipeable and warm seat when compared to stone-cold rock – the deep past meets the present day.

Dress for the Weather is an architectural practice based in Glasgow founded by Andy Campbell and Matt McKenna. The practice experiments with sampling to connect craft, ecology and construction. Stefanie Cheong is a designer and maker who explores geology and rock formations to inform her work. She brings contemporary aesthetic to traditional lapidary process by cutting found and discarded rock. She has recently started making her own rocks from waste streams.