About Gym
Ishinomaki Laboratory - 2021
We were invited by SCP to design a product for Ishinomaki Laboratory for a show in London in 2021. The design takes inspiration from a gym bench, an object that is ubiquitous in British schools. These utilitarian benches have many functions in the school gym, they are seats to sit on, beams to balance on, turn them on their sides and they are goals for indoor football. In the same way, our bench can be used in the hallway to sit on and store shoes, as a sideboard to put a TV on or at the end of a bed.
Ishinomaki Laboratory is a Japanese DIY furniture maker established in 2011. It began as a community workshop for residents in the city of Ishinomaki, which was devastated by the tsunami triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake. Inspired by the challenge of maximising the shortage of resources (materials and professional skills) from the disaster, their products are simple, yet functional and attractive. Today, Ishinomaki Laboratory is striving to push the DIY concept forward to broaden the horizons of DIY, design, and craftsmanship – helping to energise people and the community as a socially-oriented, locally-run independent company.
