Zagreb Design Week 2024 Compact: Kućni Bench by Lana Veble

One of the (great many) consequences of our contemporary European society is the physical toll all the sitting takes on our bodies; a cost for our contemporary conveniences that means for ever more of us regular physical exercise is important, necessary, be that organised sport or simply a few exercises, stretches and bends at home.

But much as nobody wants a home-office desk in their home that screams OFFICE at you, so to does no one want home-gym equipment in their home that screams GYM at you. Or at least no-one with a healthy relationship to exercise does.

Developed by University of Zagreb Design Studies student Lana Veble, Kućni Bench is a chair that through a few simple movements, by the chair not by you, enables a few simple movements, by you not by the chair; is a chair that through a few simple transforms offers a variety of locations for and invitations to undertake simple exercises, stretches and bends at home, and thereby a variety of locations for and invitations to a more habitual home exercise. Is, in many regards, a negating of the many excuses we all develop for not stretching and bending more often at home: The tool you need is there. ¿Why aren’t you using it?

And as an object Kućni Bench is cross generational: young and old alike can use it and benefit from it, can let it positively influence their daily routine, can let it demand the more regular exercising, stretching and bending we all know we all need. And when not in use as a home gym, it’s a chair. A not unappealing wooden monolith chair… or  certainly not unappealing physically we sadly never got to sit on it, that definitive test of any an every chair, or certainly every chair intended for sitting on, that test any and every chair for sitting must pass… a not unappealing wooden monolith chair that while perhaps not ideal as a home office chair should, we’d imagine, be perfectly well suited as an occasional chair in a bedroom, hall, living room, office, etc..

Or put another way, Lana has taken one of the causes of our contemporary ills, a component of the problem, and re-positioned it as a component of the solution. Which is a neat trick. And one that will always catch our attention.

At Zagreb Design Week 2024 you (could) meet Kućni Bench twice: once in the University of Zagreb Design Studies showcase presentation where it is and was called Shift&Lift, and once in the ZGDW Awards presentation where it was finalist in the Product Design category, where it didn’t win. And where it is and was called Kućni Bench, a play, we’re assuming, on ‘Kućni’ as in Croatian for ‘home’ and ‘bench’ as in ‘gym/training/workout bench’.

A double existence that not only allows one to begin to appreciate the context in which it arose and the development it has undergone, but also to appreciate that as presented in Zagreb it is, as an object, a project, not yet fully developed, not fully mature, there are, we’d argue, suppose, still a few tweaks to be made, still a few aspects to re-approached, re-appraised and re-worked. Still perhaps a few invitations to be written and functional aspects added. Which shouldn’t surprise anyone, it’s a student project, and, as we’ll never tire of noting in these dispatches, student projects aren’t about realising market ready objects but allowing the student to develop, for example, and amongst other aspects, their approach to a brief, their process(es) of realising a project, are about helping students form their approaches to design, their positions to design, about helping students formulate their appreciations on the role and function of design and the designer, et al, are about what they individually learn from the experiences, successes and failures, challenges and solutions, of the project. Are about the student not the result. Student projects in many regards must have room for further development, because the individual student must develop further.

But a double existence at Zagreb Design Week that to also allows one to appreciate that as concept Kućni Bench is a mature entity; that as a concept it understands, and confidently argues, that while, yes, you can use any and every kitchen chair as an aid to exercising, stretching and bending, a meaningful home exercise experience requires a responsive and active partner.

However perhaps the most satisfying component of Kućni Bench is its place in design (hi)story: back in the day there were chairs that transformed in to a step ladder in order to enable you to reach the higher shelves of your private library. No-one has a private library any more. But we all need to exercise ever more. Thus making Kućni Bench not just a tool for more efficient home exercising, an elegant and engaging negation of all your excuses for not home exercising, but also a very nice contemporary reimagining of a chair that is more than just a seating object, a very nice contemporary interpretation, definition, of a chair as more than a seating object. A very pleasing update of an existing concept, an existing object, an existing relationship, for contemporary society.

Which is one of those things design, designers, need must always do. For times change, as must the objects with which we surround ourselves.

More information on Lana Veble and Kućni Bench can be found at… we no know. We can find nothing online. Sorry!! Should that change, we will update.

More details on Zagreb Design Week can be found at https://zagrebdesignweek.com/