Practice Overview – Furniture, Public Space, and Digital Craft
Sebastien Wierinck’s practice explores the intersection of design, fabrication, and cultural research, producing projects that range from public seating systems to experimental furniture. Rooted in the logic of digital craft and contemporary fabrication tools, his work investigates how objects and spaces can be designed for adaptability, conviviality, and sustainable production.
OnSite Prototypes (OS)
The OnSite series is an exploration of temporary and modular seating systems installed in public space. Developed for contexts as varied as Brussels, Paris, Abu Dhabi or Berlin, each prototype adapts the same principle of tubular assemblies to the identity of its site. The installations create convivial environments within urban infrastructures, inviting people to gather, pause, and experience public space differently. OnSite demonstrates how a minimal constructive logic can generate multiple iterations across cities, balancing ephemeral design with everyday use.
Panels (PA)
The Panels series investigates the potential of CNC-milled plywood furniture and scenographic systems. From café interiors to exhibition scenography, these projects translate a logic of flat-pack construction into benches, stools, and display structures. The system is based on optimized cutting patterns and precise joinery, reducing waste while allowing for rapid assembly without nails or screws. Each project explores how material optimization can meet functional needs while generating a distinctive aesthetic.
BenchMarks
The BenchMarks projects are large-scale seating systems conceived for urban squares and public institutions. Each bench interprets its context: in The Hague, the forms resonate with surrounding architecture; in Nancy, the design reinterprets the heritage of the École de Nancy and Art Nouveau. Produced in stainless steel pipes and digitally free form bended, these benches create sculptural landmarks that embody both symbolism and everyday functionality. They show how furniture can become public infrastructure, shaping collective experience at the scale of the city.
Bodyfold and Experimental Furniture
Alongside these series, the practice develops experimental furniture that bridges digital fabrication and manual craft. The Bodyfold prototypes explore the relation between body, gesture, and folded surfaces. Other projects focus on reclaimed materials, such as benches made from corrugated steel sheets recovered on construction sites, or shelving systems designed from non-standard reclaimed wood. These works reflect a commitment to reuse, optimization, and adaptive design, demonstrating how constraints can drive new forms of inventiveness.
Digital Craft and Distributed Production
Underlying all projects is an engagement with the theory and practice of digital craft. Tools such as CNC milling, 3D printing, and parametric design are not approached as ends in themselves, but as opportunities to develop a new vocabulary of forms and methods. The practice reflects on how industrial tools can be reinterpreted in dialogue with art history and material culture.
Current Focus – Draped and YOYOLIGHT
The studio’s current focus is on two complementary axes. Draped is a high-end furniture collection developed from research on digital fabrication and material draping, produced in unique pieces or limited editions. It highlights the intersection of artistic gesture, technical know-how, and slow production.
In parallel, YOYOLIGHT proposes a more accessible line of 3D-printed lamps, fabricated in a micro-factory at Substance in Marseille and distributed through an online shop. This project embodies the principles of distributed design and on-demand production, offering an alternative to mass manufacturing by reconnecting making and use at a local scale.
A Practice of Continuity and Adaptation
Taken together, these projects outline a coherent trajectory: from public installations to furniture systems and research-driven prototypes, Sebastien Wierinck’s work builds bridges between digital processes, material reuse, and collective experience. Whether temporary or permanent, sculptural or functional, each project embodies the conviction that design can act as both a cultural gesture and a pragmatic response, creating spaces and objects that are at once thoughtful, adaptive, and socially engaged.
