14 DAY TRIAL // When we first laid eyes on this table, we seriously believed that we were looking at the most awesome wood sculpture ever, but it turns out that wood was not involved in the least, save to provide the inspiration.
Mathias Bengtsson is a Danish-born artist whose passion is to combine traditional craftsmanship with modern work and materials. It is how he chose to branch out after finishing education at the Royal College of Art.
His latest piece, or one of them, is a table that, for all intents and purposes, looks like it grew into shape from tree roots. Some really awesome tree roots.
In truth, “The Big Growth Table” is made of bronze. The initial model, measuring 1.6 meters in length (5.24 feet) was made of both wood and metal, but the newest one, 4.2 meters long (13.77 feet), was 3D printed from bronze, as surprising as it may sound.
Bengtsson has a preference for the “stories” of how a single organic seed could sprout into a fluid, natural shape that could be practical for man.
There is no way a seed could ever become a table in reality, not unless some elf or other magical being showed up and sung it into being anyhow. Still, The Big Growth Table is a clear example of human creativity.
“The furniture parameters get embedded in the digital seed; however, the form is not defined ahead of time and instead emerges as a result of the growth process coded into the seed,” said Bengtsson.
There is another item in his collection, called the Growth Chair. Based on the same design philosophy as the table, the chair looks a lot more organic through its sheer shape, even though the structure is clearly metallic.
Biomimicry at its best
We can definitely see rich people, maybe even royal families across the world, contacting the man for a dining set of this type.
If the Growth Chair and Growth Tables (the growth Tablet and The Big Growth Table) become expensive and famous collectors' items in the future, we won't be surprised in the least.
The designer could even take commissions and make every new piece of furniture unique, thus adding to the value of his pieces of art.
Goes to show that 3D printing has already come into its own, if it can be used to construct luxury objects. The Growth Chair and Tables are liable to stay forever unused just because they're too good-looking for it.
