Named with a portmanteau in honour of both its creators, Bello! is an elegant and timeless bench made from nearly 90% recycled aluminium that is 100% recyclable. This approach ensures that the bench has a minimal carbon footprint, just one-fifth of the global average.
Lightweight, strong, highly durable and available in custom lengths and heights, Bello! was conceived as an indoor/outdoor seating solution with public transportation hubs in mind. The internal support structure of the bench allows for additions such as tables, lamps, and chargers to be easily integrated, as well as enabling multiple benches to be seamlessly joined together. Because Bello! can be produced in a wide spectrum of different colours using natural anodising, it can be customised to suit the style of any setting, domestic, municipal, or commercial.
Lars on process:
“When it came to choosing the material for the bench, there was no doubt in my mind that aluminium was the way to go. As a designer, it is my responsibility to think about the entire life cycle of a product, and aluminium is one of the most sustainable materials available. Not only is it 100% recyclable, but it also requires much less energy to recycle than it does to produce from scratch.
I really wanted to emphasise the possibilities that lies within extruded aluminium. Design features that normally would drive both cost and production time up, can simply be implemented into the extrusion tool, allowing more room to play with form and expression. The design is very much a culmination of everything I appreciate from planes, trains and buses that were designed in the 1930s-1970s to brutalist architecture and last but not least – Pasta!”
About manufacturer
Hydro is a leading Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company with operations worldwide. It provides aluminium in numerous forms, from raw material and recycled aluminium to custom extrusion design and manufacturing. Hydro produces more than 70% of its aluminium using renewable energy sources such as hydropower, making it among the world’s greenest aluminium.
It starts at the drawing board – up to 80% of a products environmental footprint is determined during the design phase. Hydro therefore collaborates with designers to create more sustainable and innovative products through its high-quality recyclable aluminium. By leveraging its expertise and commitment to sustainability, Hydro takes part in shaping the future of the design industry.
