Norwegian designer drafts Bello! Aluminium bench design for Hydro

A designer based in Norway, Lars Beller Fjetland, has handcrafted a bench inspired by the pasta shape for the aluminium giant Hydro.

Bello! from Hydro has been designated for indoor and outdoor use since it has an extremely rigid structure. The best part about the furniture is that it has been created with 90 per cent recycled and 100 per cent recyclable aluminium.

The Bello! is scheduled to be unveiled at Norway's annual Milan design week, Norwegian Presence. The bench will be available in neutral shades alongside bright blue and terracotta variations.

The bench is comprised of extruded aluminium strands and is highly robust. Extrusion is a standard process in the aluminium industry where elongated aluminium profiles are produced by the administration of heat, which softens the metal before being passed through customised shapes.

Beller Fjetland has tried to represent the penne rigate pasta shape through his enigmatic bench design, which gives Bello! a flamboyant look.

The designer spoke: "The subtle ridges add so much value – you just have to run your fingers across the surface. These tactile discoveries mean so much to me."

"With this design, I really wanted to emphasise the possibilities of extruded aluminium. It is very much a culmination of everything I appreciate – from the planes, trains and buses that were designed in the 1930s–1970s to brutalist architecture and, last but not least, pasta," the designer added.

The comfortable shape of the bench poses as a perfect nest for a weary passenger. The use of aluminium gives Bello! an extremely robust structure yet keeping the weight of the bench in check. The Bello! bench is suitable for any outdoor sitting area, like public transportation zones.

Bello! has an internal support structure which means if required, one can add tables, lamps and chargers to the setting; in fact, the shape provides proper flanges that smoothly co-join other benches to the entire setup.

Hydro usually collaborates with eminent designers to propagate the use of aluminium in daily life, and this can be deemed as one such partnership with the Norwegian designer Lars Beller Fjetland.

Bello! uses 90 per cent recycled aluminium from Hydro but has no trace of being a product of retribution. The bench is environment friendly as the aluminium used can be 100 per cent recycled at the end of life, producing a batch of fresh raw material for application in different industrial sectors. This way Hydro's Bello! instigates a circular economy, lowering the carbon footprints of the company's various energy-intensive operations.