The Emotional Alchemy of Designer Ben Barnard

 

Porter chair by Designer Ben Barnard

In the grand old days when all hotels had ‘Porters’ the gentlemen were given chairs that provided cover over their heads to protect them from the wind and rain as they sat by the open doors. That’s the narrative of British Designer Ben Barnard's latest creation, the Porter Chair. "Our inspiration comes from, a cocooned experience, wrapped in opulent fabric. This also makes the chair great for conversation because it blocks out noise from around you," explains Barnard, who debuted the Porter Chair during the London Design Festival at Design Junction, an exhibition for established and emerging contemporary designers. Everything that Barnard creates evolves from a narrative—designed to elicit an emotional experience through carefully calculated use of materials and form that follow function. Ben Barnard's Porter Chair caught my eye at the London Design Festival because I detected a trend in modern furniture design that I call "cocooning."  It's when furniture functions to shut the world out and create your own private haven from the chaos and white noise of daily life.

 

Blogger Karen LeBlanc in the Porter Chair at Design Junction

Barnard's Porter Chair is a prototype—one of his debut products as he breaks out as an independent designer.  At 38-years-old, Barnard has been preparing for this moment since his childhood. At the age of nine, he worked on a table in his dad's furniture shop that was a wedding gift for Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Furniture making is Barnard's destiny. His father, John Barnard , is a luxury furniture maker known for his flamboyant style. Ben Barnard has turned that childhood apprenticeship, formal cabinet making education at UK's esteemed High Wycombe and work abroad for major furniture manufacturers into a process he calls "Emotional Alchemy." He is producing works that elicit emotional responses rooted in strong narratives.

 

The Bhodi table by Designer Ben Barnard

"My two styles are currently Zen minimalism and opulent boutique hotel— my two aesthetic and sensory loves, bringing elegant simplicity into form," says Barnard. The Bhodi table evolved from Barnard's "boutique side."

 "I love the rich patterns and colours of the Middle East and Asia, Morocco, Istanbul, Arabia, India, China etc through my travels. I think that’s what tipped the scales aesthetically to create the Porter chair and the Bhodi table although I have always been into Eastern philosophy and spiritual practices- hence the story behind Bhodi table. The colours purple and gold are Indian-esq, there are 7 levels representing enlightenment, the scorched Oak is to resemble old Indian wooden bowls and the shape for them actually came from a Tibetan singing bowl my wife bought me for my first birthday with her last year," explains Barnard.

 

The Journal Desk by Designer Ben Barnard blends a mixture of soft leather and high gloss lacquer in a single white vision topped with a silver plated handle.

The Journal Desk personifies Barnard's Zen side.  "I fall in love with and get very passionate about forms, materials, mechanisms, ambiences and how they make me feel, or experiences that I can imbue into a product.  I utterly love the products I create and that energy translates through them to the client’s experience. You're buying energy, passion and emotion, not just a desk or a chair," explains Barnard.

The Illume floor lamp by Designer Ben Barnard features 3 walnut legs that meet at a central top joint supporting the black and silver lined shade, to create a soft light.

The Illume Floor lamp also exemplifies Barnard's creative process to emotionally connect with the consumer: "The product has to do its job, so form follows function otherwise it’s art. The materials and the story/emotion they create are inseparable and cannot be sidelined; they stand in equal importance. First you fall in love with the product, you have that emotional connection, and then you expect it to do what it does flawlessly," explains Barnard. Barnard is based in South London and manufactures using sustainable materials.  He offers custom furniture both to the public and private clients directly and via interior designers as well as range furniture to select retailers.