REFRACTIONS is a cross-cultural, international design collaboration between Adam Markowitz and Phantom Hands. Commissioned by AHEC, the collection made from American red oak, cherry and maple by Phantom Hands includes a dining table, a bench, two pendant lights and a wall sconce.
The collection was first unveiled as part of BLR Hubba 2024, a two-week, all-encompassing annual cultural festival organized in December where the city comes together to experience Bangalore in all its fullness and richness
"It was through AHEC that we could confront some of our misconceptions and biases around the use of non-indigenous species of hardwood. The expertise and knowledge about timber standards and woodworking processes that came along with the collaboration have been deeply educational. Through the development of the collection, we were able to quickly delve into the uncharted subject of wood bending and building forms and structures with them. Armed with Adam's proactive, rigorous, and patient insights we have been able to expand the range of our hand-crafted techniques and design language,” - Aparna Rao, Co-Founder, Phantom Hands.
“Key to the design approach was the idea of curvature. From the outset, I elected to use bent laminating as the primary bending technique. There are some unique characteristics of bending wood, requiring an understanding of the ways that it likes to bend (e.g. - around one axis, and generally with the grain of the wood). To laminate wood, you slice the timber into thin veneers. These thin veneers are individually flexible, which allows you to bend them into the shape and then glue them back together. The curves of the resultant shapes can be incredibly strong. This is the inherent strength of curvature, and what my designs were looking to explore,” – Adam Markowitz, Founder, Adam Markowitz Design.