First designed as an impromptu solution to a lack of seating at a dinner party, designers Hannes & Fritz refined their idea to create Weekday – a collection of outdoor benches and tables for HAY.
Retaining the original idea of bringing people together, Weekday’s solid, robust presence and softly rounded joints convey a sense of warmth and familiarity that invites shared dining and a social atmosphere.
"We hope that Weekday invites people to sit, eat, drink, laugh, work, discuss and contemplate on and around it, whether on a Wednesday morning or a Saturday night," explains the design duo, who work together remotely from their studios in Stuttgart and Zurich. "It should make people feel at home, and make them smile a little."
Reminiscent of the classic picnic bench and table, Weekday offers the same sense of familiarity and invitation to shared eating experiences.
Weekday is made in strong, durable, FSC™-certified pine planks that will patinate beautifully and last for many years to come.
"Weekday is a product that feels like it has a purpose, that purpose being community, friendship, and sharing," says Rolf Hay, Co-Founder of HAY. "We chose solid pine because we wanted it to be extremely durable, for every purpose in life – you can sit, stand, or even dance on these tables or benches. But there is also something very friendly about them: the way the legs meet the planks that sit on them, and their softly rounded edge, creates a beautiful, gentle meeting between the two elements. I think this gives the collection a friendly aesthetic that really mirrors its intended use."
Available in different finishes and colour options, with the possibility to supplement benches with seat cushions in selected textiles for extra comfort.
Weekday’s strong yet universally appealing character combined with its multiple size options and water-based, weather-resistant surface treatment makes it suitable for outdoor use in a wide range of settings, from cafés and public parks to private or shared gardens.
Hannes & Fritz is a design collaboration between German-Swiss design duo Johannes Breuer and Fritz Gräber, who met at ECAL in Lausanne, Switzerland. What started as a friendship developed into a spontaneous design collaboration with the construction of a bench at a dinner party, and resulted in their successful partnership. Both designers bring their unique skillset to the collaboration, with Fritz favouring a more dynamic, expressive design language, whilst Hannes takes a more linear approach. The duo design for a number of international furniture companies, often starting their projects by exploring existing archetypal forms, before defining them in a more contemporary context. For HAY, Hannes & Fritz have designed the Weekday Table and Bench collection.
