A new sustainable furniture collection by Snarkitecture and Pentatonic breaks the mould

Circular lifestyle brand Pentatonic launched last year with duo Jamie Hall (ex-NikeLab) and Johann Boedecker (formerly of Miniwiz) championing furniture, tableware and accessories made from post-consumer waste. The brand is now launching its inaugural designer collaboration, inviting New York firm Snarkitecture to create a new furniture range, Fractured – a collection of benches and tables that merge of art, design and sustainability.
‘The material approach and technological approach of Pentatonic really opens possibilities, especially for a practice like ours,’ says Alex Munstonen, co-founder of Snarkitecture, on the series that is directly made up of material waste. For example, the bench is made up of 240 plastic bottles, 45 aluminium drinks cans, 120 items of food packaging, and four car bumpers. These are then built using nitrogen-assisted injection moulding, extruding the aluminium into long bars, this then takes shape via CNC machining and is then anodised.
Snarkitecture and Pentatonic’s Fractured furniture collection is conceptually split into two
The Brooklyn-based duo are an ideal match for project, bringing their conceptual and slightly playful aesthetic the collection. The architecture of the pieces, the concept of lots of waste turning into a one piece, and then snapping this right down the middle ‘almost like a child’s puzzle’ say Daniel Arsham, co-founder of Snarkitecture, adds humour to the highly engineered collection.
‘This collaboration was a real demonstration of the power and potential of working with post consumer waste,’ says Hall. ‘There is too much trash on our beaches, in our oceans, there is so much that could be used again and again with the right technology.’ A step in the right direction for furniture design, we would say.
Go behind the scenes of the Fractured furniture collaboration
The ‘Fractured’ bench is constructed from 25 sheets of Plyfix, Pentatonic’s luxurious felt covering made from 100 per cent recycled plastic, pressed into a single 1.5 cm sheet that is heatformed into a curved, two-seater bench. 240 plastic bottles, 45 aluminium drinks cans, 120 items of food packaging and 4 car bumpers are recycled into the design
The ‘Fractured’ table is constituted of 1,290 aluminium drinks cans, 140 items of food packaging and coffee cup lids and 6 car bumpers.
INFORMATION
Fractured is available exclusively at Pentatonic’s website
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Sujata Burman is a writer and editor based in London, specialising in design and culture. She was Digital Design Editor at Wallpaper* before moving to her current role of Head of Content at London Design Festival and London Design Biennale where she is expanding the content offering of the showcases. Over the past decade, Sujata has written for global design and culture publications, and has been a speaker, moderator and judge for institutions and brands including RIBA, D&AD, Design Museum and Design Miami/. In 2019, she co-authored her first book, An Opinionated Guide to London Architecture, published by Hoxton Mini Press, which was driven by her aim to make the fields of design and architecture accessible to wider audiences.
-
Jack White's Third Man Records opens a Paris pop-up
Jack White's immaculately-branded record store will set up shop in the 9th arrondissement this weekend
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Designer Marta de la Rica’s elegant Madrid studio is full of perfectly-pitched contradictions
The studio, or ‘the laboratory’ as de la Rica and her team call it, plays with colour, texture and scale in eminently rewarding ways
By Anna Solomon Published
-
‘Nothing just because it’s beautiful’: Performance artist Marina Abramović on turning her hand to furniture design
Marina Abramović has no qualms about describing her segue into design as a ‘domestication’. But, argues the ‘grandmother of performance art’ as she unveils a collection of chairs, something doesn’t have to be provocative to be meaningful
By Anna Solomon Published
-
Swiss utilitarianism meets West Africa in this Armando Cabral and USM furniture collaboration
A centuries-old West African motif signifying movement, adaptability, and progress served as the starting point for this collaboration between New York-based designer Armando Cabral and Swiss furniture brand USM
By Ali Morris Published
-
Hilltop hideaway: Colony creates tranquil interiors for a Catskills retreat
Perched between two mountain ranges, this Catskills retreat marries bold, angular architecture with interiors that offer warmth and texture
By Ali Morris Published
-
Rio Kobayashi’s new furniture bridges eras, shown alongside Fritz Rauh’s midcentury paintings at Blunk Space
Furniture designer Rio Kobayashi unveils a new series, informed by the paintings of midcentury artist Fritz Rauh, at California’s Blunk Space
By Ali Morris Published
-
Sculptor James Cherry’s always playful and sometimes strange lamps set New York's Tiwa Gallery aglow
‘It was simultaneously extremely isolating and so refreshing’: Los Angeles-based sculptor James Cherry on brainstorming ‘From Pollen’ at New York’s Tiwa Gallery
By Diana Budds Published
-
A celestial New York exhibition showcases Roman and Williams’ mastery of lighting
Lauded design studio Roman and Williams is exhibiting 100 variations of its lighting ‘family tree’ inside a historic Tribeca space
By Dan Howarth Published
-
Brooklyn furniture studio Stillmade unveils its first collaborative design series
Stillmade brings to life the designs of four New Yorkers – Pat Kim, Danny Kaplan, Michele Quan and Mignogna Studio
By Pei-Ru Keh Published
-
Blue Green Works's lighting champions a new aesthetic in American design
Manhattan-based design studio Blue Green Works fuses sensuality and masculinity to create mellow, mood-enhancing lighting with visual impact
By Pei-Ru Keh Published
-
Blue Green Works introduces alluring new lighting collection
Inspired by iconography, American design studio Blue Green Works introduces five new lighting ranges
By Rosa Bertoli Published