Jasper Morrison has enlisted 18 designers including Martino Gamper, Inga Sempé and Cecilie Manz to create benches for Fiskars Village in Finland, for its inaugural art and design biennale.
The London-based designer was invited by the organisers of the Fiskars Village Biennale to curate the installation, which involved placing public benches along the banks of the Fiskars River.
Keiji Takeuchi is one of the 18 designers that have created benches
The Social Seating benches were installed ahead of the event's inaugural edition, which opened on 19 May 2019. The festival emphasises the principles of diversity and sustainable development, which are encapsulated in a programme that brings together art and design.
Visitors have an opportunity to engage with work by almost 100 artists and designers who are selected by three curators, Jasper Morrison, Anniina Koivu and Jenni Nurmenniemi. In a text in the festival's catalogue, Morrison suggested that the biennale format offers an opportunity to explore the less commercial aspects of design, adding that biennales can be viewed as "an antidote to the endless design fairs and design weeks which have proliferated in recent years".
Finnish designer Harri Koskinen made a simple bench from four sections of raw pine
The village where the festival takes place was developed around an ironworks established in 1649, which gave rise to the company that bears its name.
The village's historic buildings are heritage listed and Fiskars is n...