There are benches that serve a function, and there are benches that become statements. Christophe Pillet’s Ever bench for Kreoo falls into a rare third category, it behaves like a sculpture that just happens to invite you to sit. Built entirely from marble, Ever sidesteps the ornate in favor of restraint. It’s designed to last, not just in form, but in presence.
FURNITURE
At first glance, Ever doesn’t shout for attention. It doesn’t curve or spiral. Instead, it proposes something subtler: a geometric puzzle of interlocking slabs, where a 4cm seat seems to lightly rest atop two thicker, 6cm supports. There’s tension in that balance, in the way the structure recedes, as if the bench is pulling inward rather than expanding outward. The two small raised edges at the seat’s ends act as a quiet visual anchor, while a hidden longitudinal beam ensures that this minimalist gesture is also structurally sound.
It’s a design that performs an elegant trick, making 485 pounds of solid marble feel light. Pillet has carved clarity out of complexity, allowing the natural qualities of the stone to do most of the visual work. Each bench, cut from one of seven marbles in the Kreoo catalogue, carries its own history in veins, pores, and mineral traces. That individuality doesn’t distract from the form, it deepens it.
Intended for both indoor and outdoor use, Ever slips into living rooms, bedrooms, hallways, and terraces without fuss. Its architectural logic makes it feel appropriate in private spaces, but it could easily hold its own in a hotel lobby or gallery. It’s not trying to be decorative. It’s simply there, grounded and still.
There’s an ascetic luxury to the project, a refusal of embellishment in favor of proportion, surface, and permanence. The option to upholster the seat from a selection of 102 leathers by Gruppo Mastrotto adds another layer of customization, but even in its bare form, the bench feels resolved. The matt finish gives the marble a softness that works well with sunlight or shadow, indoors or out.
Christophe Pillet doesn’t design objects that compete with their surroundings. He creates pieces like Ever, quiet, architectural, and unusually precise. It’s a bench that doesn’t want your attention. And that’s exactly why it keeps it.
