BD Barcelona launches B bench

A new seating system for public use designed by Konstantin Grcic.

One of Spain’s leading, avant-garde design companies, BD Barcelona Design, has just unveiled Bench B, a seating range for public use, designed by Konstantin Grcic, at the trade fairs IMM, in Cologne, and Maison & Objet, in Paris.

According to Grcic, Bench B is conceived as a system of benches for public use; it ranges from an individual armchair to a bench that’s over 6m long. The bench can be used indoors and out, can have arms or not and its extruded aluminium frame can be exposed or upholstered with fabrics made by the same company, all of which greatly increases the possibilities for how it’s used. A distinctive feature of the bench is that it nods to an iconic piece of furniture – the Barcelona chair designed in 1929 by Mies van der Rohe. ‘I think it’s interesting to make these references in design,’ says Grcic. ‘Design isn’t just about inventing new things. It’s also about the evolution of things.’

BD Barcelona Design is one of Spain’s most prestigious, internationally renowned design companies. It holds the exclusive, worldwide rights to make pieces by Antoni Gaudí and Salvador Dalí, while it has produced others in collaboration with such contemporary designers as Ross Lovegrove, Oscar Tusquets, Alfredo Häberli, Javier Mariscal and Jaime Hayón, among others. The company exports over 70 per cent of its goods.