AHEC teams up with Royal College of Art
18 June 2012The American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) is looking to put hardwood centre stage once again at the London Design Festival through a chair design project with the Royal College of Art.
AHEC's Timber Wave installation, made from red oak, made its mark on last year's festival at the entrance to the V&A and now it is collaborating with product design students to produce 13 hardwood chairs which will be exhibited at the V&A in September.
Students can use an American hardwood of their choice, with the designs developed into working prototypes by Berkshire furniture manufacturer Benchmark.
AHEC is using, for the first time, its life cycle assessment research to help students produce detailed life cycle impacts for their designs.
"The fact that the students can see and understand the full environmental impact of their design gives this collaboration extra relevance to today's world and sets it apart from other student design projects," said David Venables, AHEC's European director.
