Resilience Bench

RESILIENCE BENCH is a unique one-off made for the After The Storm Exhibition at the Royal Botanic Gardens (RBGE), Edinburgh (December 2016). A major storm caused devastation in the garden followed by a period of change and regeneration. The wind-blown trees provided timber for a new collection by Scottish furniture makers.

In the Resilience Bench Angus chose to combine oak from a Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh wind-blown tree with some lovely Scottish olive ash to shine a spotlight on the problem of disease. Currently a much more serious threat to our native tree species than storms.  As there is no cure for these diseases Angus was struck by the importance of increasing resilience. In the management of our woodland we try to improve the resilience of trees to disease by controlling invasive species and highly selective felling (with one tree felled within a group) improving the light and space for remaining trees.

The image top shows the Resilience Bench in the garden at the site of the original oak tree.

A seat for two is supported by a delicate apparently fragile flowing line of steam-bent olive ash and hand-turned spindles. The seat of RBGE oak has been scorched and wire brushed: the technique is known as shou sugi ban in Japan. This creates a hard wearing beautifully textured tactile finish. The surface of the seat has gently undulating sculpted surface which is perhaps surprisingly much more comfortable to sit on than a flat surface. The dark surface symbolises the earth. The health of the marvellously rich and complex life in the earth  has a huge impact on the plants and trees above.  The spindles connecting the top and bottom rails can remind us of the inter-dependence of all life from the micro-organisms living in the soil to the thousands of species supported by a veteran oak tree.

Dimensions width 160 x depth 56 x height 78 cm

We have a lovely hard bound book called “After the Storm” , featuring the Resilience Bench, published by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, for sale at £10 each.  Please get in touch if you are interested.