It’s only when you stop to take a good hard look at a piece of garden furniture that you begin to properly appreciate how often it’s not fit for purpose.
Take your standard picnic bench – not only is it a thing of unabashed ugliness, but it’s also uncomfortable to sit on. Plus it requires a certain youthful agility in order to navigate your legs into position without skinning your shins, or accidentally giving one of your fellow picnickers a painful kick in the ribs.
All of which is why the Office of Public Works commissioned two award-winning Irish furniture designers, Simon Doyle and Adrian Coen, to come up with a fresh and innovative design for the picnic benches belonging to the newly-opened Commemorative Tree Avenue in Dublin's Phoenix Park. Situated on the Furze Road, the avenue has been planted with 180 London plane trees (Platanus x acerifolia) to commemorate the significant events that took place between 1912-1922, one of the most transformative periods in Irish history.
Doyle, who studied furniture design at Letterfrack, and Coen, who trained in the UK as well as at the Swedish college, Steneby, rose to the challenge. The result is what they call the “Picnic Cluster”, an airy, contemporary design that combines functionality with beauty.
The two designers have put great thought into the finished piece, right down to incorporating a section of Dublin granite into the benches, which picnickers can use for those foil-based BBQ sets that are so popular.
"The brief was to make something that was comfortable, good-looking and accessible to people of all ages and varying degrees of physical mobility, as well being conducive to social interaction. So we've designed a picnic bench that combines seats of varying heights, including a section with a back support and an arm rest appropriate for older people who might struggle to get in and out of a standard picnic bench. It's also wheelchair-accessible", explains Doyle, who earlier this year was named by the New York Times as a designer to watch.
Fittingly, Phoenix Park’s picnic clusters are built from oak that came from one of the park’s trees. After the 200-year-old tree was felled three years ago, it was milled into planks. These were then stacked and stored in the park, in its Whitestown facility, to allow them to gradually air-dry. The resulting timber, say Doyle and Coen, is ideal for use outdoors. “The plan is to let it age naturally, so that the furniture almost feels like a part of the wider landscape.”
Which is certainly not something you could say of your standard picnic bench See simon-doyle.com and adriancoenfurniture.com. Both designers are happy to consider private commissions