The Germinal Bench belongs to one of Andrea Branzi’s last series, presented in his final solo exhibition, “Contemporary DNA” in New York in 2023. The bench combines hand painted bamboo with a painted aluminum base. The regular, almost manufactured forms of the bamboo and its painted surface turn the work into what Branzi described as “a kind of hybrid nature.” The piece carries the ideas that shaped his work since the Italian Radical Design movement of the 1960s: the meeting of craft and industry, and objects that hold meaning beyond their use. 

Hand painted bamboo, painted aluminum  

H 104 × W 230 × D 60 cm

H 41 × W 90.50 × D 23.50 in

Unique series of 12 

Photography by Timothy Doyon