This series of seats is an exercise in the idea of creating inseparable objects. I fell in love with castable materials and the ways they could “create” a mold from my surroundings. I was really into this youtube video of molten pewter being poured into an ant colony’s opening and getting a cast of the whole inner workings of the colony. I played around with cements; some that could be manipulated halfway into their cure, some fiber-reinforced and even coloring my mix with vibrant hues. These seats were created from pouring the cement mix in a weather balloon and then placing that balloon inside the cut out of my acrylic frame. I would then compress the balloon from the top and bottom until it swelled around the edge of the acrylic. Once cured, I would pop the balloon and the cement was trapped in the frame, creating the seat. A comfy one!

I have always thought these seats would make cool public pieces. I have 2 of the 3 I produced and had them outside for a summer in NYC. They can be completely weatherproofed with a coating over the cement to prevent freeze thaw damage. I would also love to add a little drain hole in the center of the cement concavity for drainage. I would like to see them at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The project started with a conversation about cement as a material with a supplier in the Navy Yard. The Navy Yard develops it would be cool to see a series of benches installed for the makers there to enjoy!