Bentley unveils new furniture collection which aims to brings harmony with a human touch ...
As the Newent Collection launches, Bentley Home offers a unique insight into its extraordinary creation process and crafting secrets. Each piece of exquisite furniture is individually finished by hand and fuses traditional craftsmanship with new technology, embodying the techniques and principles of modern luxury integral to Bentley Motors.
The striking furniture pieces draw inspiration from both long-established and modernist design, and interpret the personality and discerning aesthetic of Bentley Motors. The silhouettes and iconic shapes of Bentley models new and old, alongside the precious materials that characterise car interiors, can be seen in the design language of Bentley Home’s beautiful home pieces. In the new and finely-crafted Newent Collection, the characteristic quality of each item mirrors that of Bentley’s core luxury and performance elements.
Introducing the Newent Collection
Designed by the renowned Carlo Colombo, and presenting the excellence of Italian craftsmanship, the Newent creations are the latest additions to the Bentley Home collection - so synonymous with exquisite craft and innovation. The comfort and harmony of the shapes, as well as the expressive silhouettes of the collection, are the key features of the Newent line.
The Newent sofa is the star of the collection, with a stunning armchair, chair and bed available to match. The pieces can be either fully upholstered in the customer’s choice of sumptuous leather or fabric, or with a veneered frame. Available in the most iconic walnut briarwood design, the frame envelops the curved profile of the sofa, highlighting and enhancing the differing angles that characterise its elegant, tapered shape.
The curves of the Newent designs, echo those of the iconic Richmond Collection, the first Bentley Home line, launched in 2013. This distinguished previous collection has provided a source of inspiration for the Newent line, and allowed the design structure to progress to softer shapes, exploring the freedom of sinuous lines.
Exquisite Craft and Elegant Process
To achieve the extraordinary standards required to finish a piece of Bentley Home furniture, a human touch is vital. Veneering, for example, is hand-inlaid and positioned with a hot-vacuum membrane press. The bending moulds, requiring the handiwork of highly-skilled craftspeople, are made specifically for Newent designs. This procedure is extremely precise and is completed by hand. The special double curve visible in the lower side of the frame does not show any divisions or joints between the parts curved in different directions. This result comes via the manufacturing technique of thermoforming, which uses innovative processes and materials.
This intense attention to detail ensures the precise and elevated standard of Bentley Home furniture is achieved, and the human touch guarantees that each piece is unique. This exceptional standard of craftsmanship mirrors that of Bentley Motors’ own and the veneer process in particular holds several similarities to that of the car interior.
Chris Cooke, Bentley’s Head of Product Design, commented: “We work very closely with our colleagues at Bentley Home to ensure the furniture we create embodies the exacting standard in design and manufacture we have in our cars.
Both Bentley Home and Bentley Motors use high-frequency machine presses for curved pieces; sharing the use of a very advanced technology that can create these smooth and rounded shapes that have become so iconic. The flat press machine, for bonding the veneers to the support, is also used by both Bentley Home and Bentley Motors. Both partner brands also follow the same process for veneer preservation, storing woods in rooms with a constant temperature to avoid changes in the wood patterns that can occur from exposure to other elements, or transitions from dry to damp.
Old Meets New
Bentley Home injects the spirit of the modern British marque into its furniture designs, recognising that the classic must meet the contemporary. The lines and silhouettes of contemporary Bentley models are reflected within the furniture. Yet the timelessness of the pieces is reminiscent of Bentley’s evolving classic style over the course of its illustrious history since 1919.
Similarly, the highly skilled manufacturing process fuses traditional craft with modern technology. In the making of the latest collection, the interspace created in its curved frame cannot be achieved through traditional furniture-making techniques. Yet the upholstering work can be traced back through decades, if not centuries, of design.
Bentley Home furniture is distinctive through its use of rounded shapes, achieved via technology, a constant search for greater innovation and finely-tuned, highly-qualified human skill.
