PLY+ is a lightweight, stackable seating system in which three cold-bent plywood elements generate modular chairs or benches of virtually any length.

The seating system is conceived to minimise the number of components required for production. Using only three elements — seat, base and legs — it can generate individual chairs or benches extending to virtually any length.

Each component is cold-bent from thin marine-grade plywood and the bent strakes
of traditional wooden hulls, where curvature gives thin material strength. Cold bending turns structural efficiency into a precise, continuous silhouette. Once assembled, the curves increase rigidity, allowing the elements to support one another through simple, reversible joints rather than complex hardware.

The system’s minimalist identity emerges directly from its constructive logic. A few continuous surfaces meet with geometric clarity, transforming technically sophisticated components into an immediately legible form; through repetition, PLY+ changes in scale and capacity without altering its formal language. Each seat can be pyrographed like an individual sailor’s tattoo, introducing identity and rhythm through decoration rather than new typologies. The system remains unchanged; its surface becomes the field of variation.

Lightweight, stackable and easy to assemble or disassemble, PLY+ is particularly suited to galleries, educational environments, boats, hospitality interiors and temporary installations. Its modular structure enables compact storage, effortless transport and rapid reconfiguration as spatial and seating requirements evolve.

PLY+ transforms reduction into possibility, allowing three bent-plywood elements to generate an open family of seats. Through repetition and reversibility, a single constructive gesture expands from chair to bench.

Credits

Design: Ate Rote
Fabrication: I Falegnami Srl