In 2015, London-based industrial designer Benjamin Hubert made a career-defining choice: to rework his solo follow right into a “human-centred” design studio known as Layer. Since then, the studio has grown to a crew of round 30 folks with a spread of various abilities, from design to engineering, digital to branding. This has allowed Layer to be expansive in its design methodology; every mission is carried out with an eye fixed on the long run and an curiosity in design for change.
Trying round his 10-year retrospective 10 × 10 × 10 , exhibited at Milan Design Week in 2025, this focus was evident within the work on show. Along with chairs and lamps, there have been VR headsets, AI companions, Sensible Tech merchandise, a 3D-printed wheelchair and extra. I used to be additionally struck by the sheer amount of labor – 50 tasks – and Benjamin clarified that this was solely round one or two % of Layer’s whole output over the 10-year interval. Requested to mirror on the work of the studio, Benjamin mentioned: “It’s the cross-section of know-how, crafted issues, analogue, digital, furnishings items, a number of client items. Typically bringing the craft to know-how issues and know-how to crafted issues.”
This mixing of craft and know-how might be seen in works equivalent to his Strand gentle for Muuto, a light-weight metal construction lined by a skinny but strong fibrous materials, and the Ripple desk, which is the results of a analysis mission into light-weight development. Different tasks, together with the Ensemble glass items for Orrefors, are extra about repositioning an present craft in a contem-porary context. And the Tent chair for Moroso is the results of two years of analysis into sensible textiles, leading to an modern knit material fabricated from two million knots.
With a deal with the following 10 years (therefore the title 10 × 10 × 10 : the exhibition appears to be like forward, in addition to trying again), the exhibition offered six new objects confronting a number of the key points impacting humanity within the close to future. Amongst them had been a lightweight powered by algae-derived oil, a rain catchment tower and a modular dwelling for bees. Every of those six tasks was developed with a model companion and the prototype was offered on the exhibition. “Each bit is a celebration of humanity’s perseverance, but additionally craft,” Benjamin mentioned. “It speaks to the human situation and to the human hand.”
