DesignInc: To bee or not to bee

A South African designer in London keeps it green by creating nature-friendly furniture. By Nadine Botha

My most vivid memories of bees always include a lukewarm cream soda and a school gala. Yet, have I even seen a bee in the past 20 years? This is not an anecdotal observation.

In June, the UK reported a 13.6% to 17.1% decline in bee populations across the country. One of the most common anxieties among humans, melissophobes may want to celebrate. However, a reduced bee population has serious knock-on effects for the pollination and fertilisation of food-bearing crops, potentially reducing the yield dramatically.

A number of programmes to prevent the decline in bees have sprung up throughout the US and Europe over the past few years. One of the most high profile is the Capital Growth programme, which is overseeing the establishment of 2 012 food gardens throughout London in the lead-up to the 2012 Olympics.

This will include more than 50 urban beehives as well as a campaign to encourage bee-friendly behaviour in citizens. Such activities include avoiding the use of pesticide, growing one's own fruit and vegetables, planting forage plants for bees and buying bee-friendly food when shopping.

Designers are also starting to incorporate these considerations into developing outdoor furniture. Recently, South African designer Ryan Frank developed a bee-friendly range of outdoor furniture for the National Theatre's first-floor restaurant on the South Bank.

Using re-claimed pine, Frank developed a number of modular benches, tables and stools. All on castors, the pieces can be rearranged into different configurations depending on the occasion. The real innovation, however, is that they all include planters with herbs that can both be used by the kitchen and attract bees.

"Frank's sustainability ethos corresponds directly with what we are aiming to achieve here," said Vicky Falconer-Pritchard, catering manager at the National Theatre, which recently joined the Sustainable Restaurant Association.

Frank was born, raised and trained in Cape Town, having attended what was then called the Cape Technikon in the late '90s. In his final year of studying industrial design, he participated in a student exchange programme and ended up at Weindesheim University in Zwolle, The Netherlands. Although he admits it was more of a party than a learning experience, he is grateful for it making him more "streetwise" and exposing him to the international industry.

Following an internship at a Dutch design studio, Frank headed to London and found himself working at an architecture practice that had a fantastic material library. Fascinated by the new environmentally friendly materials coming to market, he took the opportunity to develop his own range of products. By 2005 he had enough products to go solo and launched his company, Free Range Furniture, which took off immediately.

"I think my work really appealed to people because it was so different to what anyone else was doing at the time," he admits shyly. In 2006 he was included in Time magazine's "Who's Who: The Eco Guide".

There is something about Saffers in London that often cuts to the quick. "I grew up in Africa with big open spaces and came to London, where the bridges and canals are more than 100 years old and the buildings are recycled, reclaimed and patched up. This city has just enhanced my desire for nature," he told Time magazine back then.

For instance, his Inkuku chair is inspired by the chicken sculptures made of recycled plastic bags and wire found alongside the road in South Africa. His one-piece Shanty room divider and lamp is made from corrugated iron sheets salvaged from 2012 Olympics construction sites.

What has become one of his signature pieces, the Hackney Shelf, uses the graffiti boards that surround construction sites.

Finding that most of his manufacturing and clients were European, Frank relocated to Barcelona earlier this year.

"A South African boytjie can only take so much grey skies," he laughs. Although he says it's been tough readjusting to the slower, more lackadaisical attitude to work, he's excited to be presenting a solo exhibition at the Barcelona Design Week in October.

• Nadine Botha is editor of Design Indaba magazine: www.designindaba.com, Twitter: @designindaba