Matthias Pliessnig is a designer who seems to have stumbled upon his design calling by accident while experimenting with steam bending. He now creates uniquely structured wood furniture, boats, and wall panels for hospitals, universities, private buyers, and businesses of all sorts, in America as well as overseas. He only uses air dried White Oak for what he does, and just air drying the wood can take 2-3 years. He steam bends the wood initially, after getting his design direction for a Rhinoceros modeling program, and holds it together with over 2000 clamps. Once the wood is out of the steamer, Matthias only has about 30 seconds to get it in place for hard bends, 45 seconds for medium, and 1 minute for slight. Afterwards, for about 2 minutes he can make slight adjustments, but even that is risky, and after that time, the wood is set. He also uses a jigsaw and laser cutter for any cross sections he has to create to support the structure. Epoxy, glue, wire, copper rivets, and scarf joints are all used to join benches together, depending on what the client wants or what the design demands. Finally, the structure is sanded, both inside and out, to add a nice finish.
It takes approximately 2000 hours of man power on average per bench, and the average cost is $44,000.
Imagine that!
Here are some pictures to feed your imagination:
-RM
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