The Zini Bench is inspired by the character Zini of the German Children television “Spass am Dienstag”. “Zini, das Wusolon” is an 1980‘s Video effect of yellow dot that moved with its visual echo over the screen. It spoke with an electronically distorted and pitched voice.

The bench consist of an array of half-moon shaped seats all linked-together by a vertical wall that has potential joints. When all the seats are aligned and thus the supporting wall segments are aligned Zini will fall over. Only by bending the joint of the wall does the bench become stable.

The Bench will change shape and invites the user to play with it and adapt it to his needs.

Zini can be set on or can serve as coffee table. The shortest version consist of 4 circles; 5 or 6 circles are also possible.
It is made of cnc- milled beech multiplex. The walls consist of two sides of multiplex sandwiching a sheet of plastic. Groves cut into the sandwich allow it to flex to maximum 90 degrees per segment. Triangular wooden bars form a rest for the gliding parts of the seat and make a firm connection wherever seat and wall are fastened.

The Zini Bench is a research of how to make a sculptural object, that can change through movement. It asks what a furniture can be. A frozen motion makes it stable, whereas a layout that is straight will tip over. The more movable parts the bench has the better. It is the reverse logic of a common seating object.

2012