TECTAN Bench

The TECTAN bench was my second piece of furniture to design and manufacture when I was in school. I aimed to design a 2-piece bench out of sheet and steel square stock that would resemble a sort of monolithic slab with a chunk taken out of it. A crystalline form created with bold linework that defined its surfaces.

I had the image of the monolith from 2001 A Space Odyssey stuck in my head, and so as I began to flush out concept drawings, I collaged them into outdoor scenes from vintage magazines and laminated them for a retro feel.

The frame was welded and powdercoated a vivid blue to highlight the abstract, architectural geometry. The surfaces are made from Tectan, a recycled material made from shredded juice-box waste.

The manufacturing process of Tectan is actually really interesting. The manufacturer takes the waste material from another manufacturer of foil-lined juice-boxes and cartons (Tetrapak), the material is then shredded up, then heated and compressed into 3/4-inch thick sheets of board. The heat melts the polyethylene which acts as a binding agent holding the board together. The sheets are thus comprised of polyethylene, paper and a small amount of aluminum foil, from the liners of the juice-boxes. If you look closely, you can see small bits of foil and text in the material! Tectan is not ‘post-consumer recycled’ but ‘post-manufacturer recycled’, which means it may not necessarily be saving the environment, but it is at least providing an extra stop for a material that would otherwise end up in a landfill.