Peaveasy Bench
Everybody’s gonna try to have a good, good time
By Herick Acosta
Inspiration tends to come in mysterious ways and for this bench it all started with an air conditioner repair.
Long story short, I ended up buying some PVC pipes to extend the sewage drain exhausts; gases were being pulled by our air conditioner compressor. After all this work some spare pieces of pipe ended up on my desk and I started tinkering with them. What could I do with them?
My first reaction was to search for “PVC Furniture” to try to see what other creative people were doing with PVC pipes. Most of them were using them as supports or for small applications such as organizers or lamps. Let’s say that the pipes were not used as the central part of the pieces an that’s not how I roll.
As usual my first thought was how the hell could I make a cool bench out of them. Thankfully inspiration came to me pretty fast thanks to the beautiful Benji Bench that I have next to my desk. Basically I looked at it and reviewed the wavy pattern seat and thought about mimicking it with the curvatures of the pipes.
My seat was going to be an arrangement of parallel pipes set next to each other and with that idea for the centerpiece of the creation was done. Next I had to jump into designing the legs which needed to be sturdy enough for a bench, not too flashy and had to somehow hold all the pipes.
Thanks to the advantages of CNC machining I was able to design a simple looking but complex to manufacture set of legs. These are the classic C shape legs with a slight taper inside and individual half circle cuts to hold the pipes in place. This design was good to me but I hadn’t yet figured out how to attach the pipes into the structure and here is where rope comes into play.
The introduction of ropes into the design led to the addition of holes below the semi circle cutouts. These holes help the user attach the pipes into the legs by warping the rope in both cavities. Interestingly enough this simple action opens the possibilities for a bunch of looks based on the knitting pattern the user uses to use when attaching the pipes. You could do a simple one turn warp or a complex zigzag type arrangement. Furthermore, ropes can vary in color and sizes which also adds into the customizable options.
The introduction of ropes into the design led to the addition of holes below the semi circle cutouts. These holes help the user attach the pipes into the legs by warping the rope in both cavities. Interestingly enough this simple action opens the possibilities for a bunch of looks based on the knitting pattern the user decides to use when attaching the pipes. You could do a simple one turn warp or a complex zigzag type arrangement. Furthermore, ropes can vary in color and sizes which also adds into the customization options.
The end result is a three part DIY project with a magical/industrial looking aspect that defies the classical use of the material and comfort. Surprisingly enough the seat is fairly comfortable despite its look. I think this has to do with the curvature of the pipes which help your body blend into the seat.
What do you think about this design? Do you imagine yourself assembling one? Would you like to have this bench in your home? If this is the case don’t hesitate and contact me!
Note: As of now I’ve only created this bench in MDF (for prototyping purposes) but the bench can be made in plywood, OSB and MDF depending on the customer’s request and budget.