The London based Benjamin Hubert studio was founded in 2007 and specialises in industrial design across furniture, lighting and product sectors, working with international manufacturers throughout Europe. The studio works on a diverse range of projects including both mass/batch produced consumer products and limited edition/one offs.
Benjamin Hubert conducts materials driven industrial design projects where the starting point of the process is often the material or production technique. Much of the inspiration comes directly from the factories workshops and people making the products. The studio is interested in creating timeless objects that do not do not respond to trends or fashion but rely on usability analysis, materiality and simplicity.
The studio also focuses on sustainability as an integrated part of each project, whether its creating products that will last a lifetime both from a quality and durability perspective or from a recyclability and more holistic infrastructure approach. A good example of the later is the large pod chair where traditional upholstery, with its multilayered material approach, has been replaced by a lightweight recycled PET plastic felt shell with great acoustic properties and a small carbon footprint due to its stacking design for transportation. The studio is also interested in supporting local or dwindling industry whether its utilising the ceramic industry in the UK (chimney light) or supporting an industry under threat, for example the cork industry (float lights) – a highly sustainable industry with its core market disappearing due to plastic wine stoppers.
Benjamin Hubert also focuses on the users perceptions of materiality and challenges preconceived ideas of context or usage. A good example of this is the concrete lighting range (heavy lights) with its thin walled construction drawn from the ceramic industry created in a specialist factory in Germany. By creating a more refined elegant structure and illuminating it, the project aimed to elevate the users perception of material worth, rather than accepting concrete as a low value architectural commodity.
The studio focuses heavily on product development and works very closely with the manufacturers factories. Projects can take anywhere from 1 to 4 years in development, with the deepest research in new manufacturing techniques or pushing a production process creating the longest design cycle.
