The Qualities of Materials is a new and experimental collection from Fort Standard that pushes the properties of  natural materials such as wood, stone and leather beyond their typical applications and limitations.

Examples within this collection include the Stacked Leather Chair. While we don’t normally think of leather as a structural material, this chair made entirely of stacked and rolled vegetable tanned leather that acts as the structural component of the chair.

In a different and surprising material feat, The Assemblage Wood Coffee Table is constructed of hundreds of thin, hard maple wood slats that are assembled into hollow, triangular tubes that make up the surface and extruded legs of the coffee table. The same technique is used to create the stunning hollow table top and legs of the Assemblage Wood Dining Table & Bench.

Next, we move to the possibilities of stone as the Relief Stone Cabinet moves this material is a very unexpected direction. A triangular relief pattern is milled into the exterior panels of the cabinet in order to remove excess weight while still retaining the material’s well known strength. The six door cabinet is made up of three stackable units and sits on a hard maple base. It also comes in a single door format.

Fort Standard is a contemporary design studio in New York founded by Gregory Buntain and Ian Collings. Their collaborative work pairs timeless materials with modern processes. often using traditional methods of production in new and innovative ways that result in  what they describe as a ‘warm-contemporary’ aesthetic.