Toyo Ito is a world famous architect who has taken to the stable of designers who have made the transition into furniture for the Italian furniture company Horm. In my opinion, Toyo Ito’s work is high concept and not based on an existing style, however the materiality of his projects tend to be on the shiny side. Steel, glass, and a number of other reflective materials permeate his large body of work. Often times, his buildings almost feel devoid of material. The buildings somehow are made of light and ether. But this piece of furniture is not about all of that, at least in terms of material choice. I guess when the scale is brought down these explorations make less sense. This bench is a warm plywood that is more about the material itself. The character of the ply strata are revealed by sanding a slight bowl into the seat of the bench revealing almost tree-like rings.