Adam Blencowe believes that “furniture is that most basic commodity: the challenge is to work out its fast-changing relevance and adapt it to contemporary conditions”. He cites his experience producing furniture for a school in the Dharavi slum in Mumbai using recycled and found material as a springboard for this train of thought.
Adam is an advocate of technology in design and the opportunities that it can provide for Makers. His 2015 project Fuzzy Logic, for example, combines felting and digital technology. It creates the opportunity to bond two textiles together through needle-punching and create a range of new markings and textures in the process.For the concept of Dado Furniture (2016) Blencowe has designed a series of vertical components; bench ends, shelving and table supports, the patterns of which will be freely downloadable. By adding the horizontal elements – off the peg, standard wooden mouldings, such as picture rail, architrave or wainscoting – it will be possible for anyone to create furniture that functions to suit their specific requirements.
Adam has exhibited Fuzzy Logic at The Silk Mill in Derby Museum (2015) and his Barbican Chess Set was shown at the Barbican in the same year, celebrating the quality of the building’s Brutalist design.