Designs of the Weird: A Bed Made of Corian

Corian is a durable, stain and chemical resistant material, so it was only a matter of time before someone discovered its sculptural potential.

Yes, you heard that right. A bed made from Corian. But isn't Corian that DuPont countertop surface material? It sure is -- remember we talked about it in our story about kitchen countertops?

Machine Histories, or Los Angeles-based duo Steven Joyner and Jason Pilarski, decided to have some fun with the durable and stain resistant material. This particular bed was created for an artist, Pae White, who was designing some woven tapestries and was looking for an unusual four-poster bed to display them on. Instead of purchasing an out-of-the-box traditional cherry four-poster bed, White approached Machine Histories to make something unique and artistic for the display.

I chatted with Jason about the bed's design -- I just had to know: Why Corian? Jason explained that Corian is "an extremely easy material to machine as it is capable of maintaining every bit of detail...I had been wanting to use it on a project for some time and thought this would be a good opportunity."

He obtained the material from a local distributor. It comes in half inch thick sheets so Jason and Steven had to laminate the sheets together to make-up the stock sizes required. Is Corian an easy material to manipulate? Not really, says Jason, but It is "fairly difficult to laminate because the Corian glue sets up so quickly. This means that by the time you have the glue spread over the surface it is already drying and this can lead to a less than satisfactory bond."

The design of this particular bed was created with 3D modeling software. The biggest challenge? Creating a classic four-poster bed while trying to make it feel fresh and contemporary.

The two designers experimented with different strategies for creating marks and textures on the surface until they were satisfied with the results.

What emerged was a beautiful, sculptural piece of art that, unfortunately, no one has actually slept in. But could they? Sure, says Jason. "It would have functioned very well," he says. "It wasn't designed to be a prop. We built in all the required components to make it work. I am sure the experience in the bed could definitely be scandalous and decadent."


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