Portland Seat

Portland stone is another highly recognisable London building stone. For centuries most prominent London buildings, including St. Paul’s Cathedral and Buckingham Place, were made exclusively from the limestone that comes from one unique location in the UK, the Isle of Portland. It has been quarried since Roman times, with industrial extraction beginning in the 17th century. 

Portland stone comes in several different types, and depending on the depth of deposition, you get varied textures, density and shell content.

︎︎︎Isle of Portland OS map, 1960

The idea for the benches and seats is to expose the naturally occuring contrasting strata layers of the stone. A stack of simple curvaceous volumes was imagined to create a series of playful and functional objects.