Tension at Work | Martha Schwindling

Tension at Work is an experiment in construction. Textile, which – in the context of furniture – is normally used for covering structural parts, becomes the main structural element. Common plywood boards are bent into shape by loops of textile that have been wrapped around them. The result is a series of stable objects comprising two materials that wouldn’t ordinarily provide stability when used on their own.

A group of trestles and a partitioning wall are presented as examples of the application of this construction principle: exhibited together, they suggest an office environment. The trestles are stackable, easy to dismantle and can be flat-packed. The wall illustrates how even large objects can be constructed in this lightweight and collapsible manner.

Martha Schwindling

Martha Schwindling (Germany, 1988) studied product design at Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design. Before graduating in 2014 she interned with Stefan Diez, worked freelance as a designer for Bureau Kilian Schindler and spent one semester in the Visual and Critical Studies department of the School of Visual Arts, New York. In 2011, while still studying, she established her own practice and has since worked on furniture, products, interiors and concepts for various clients as well as on independent ventures. Schwindling’s projects are rooted in the common and everyday: she looks closely at the objects surrounding us, and tries to improve them, aiming towards self- evidence of concept, construction and use. The rationality and the character of an object are equally important to her. She lives and works in Berlin.

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