Henry Svendsen's Handle collection is made from "metal, leather and flesh"

Designer Henry Svendsen has created Handle, a "kink-coded" furniture collection that features three abstract sculptural pieces made from brushed metal and black leather.

Svendsen, who studied architecture and has previously designed furniture for fashion label Burberry, aimed to create pieces that engage with their users. His designs are slightly abstract, leaving it up to the viewer to figure out what they can be used for.

"I was doing architecture, and was kind of obsessed with this feeling of [creating] an almost smaller, toned-down version of architecture," Svendsen told Dezeen of his sculptural designs.

"It's furniture, and you're engaging with it, and it's almost an art form that engages with the human body."

The Handle collection is comprised of a saddle-like seat, a tall stand or hanger and a hybrid seat-stand.

"I was also looking at this idea of the plinth and of how, in the art world, you have these huge bronze and marble sculptures that lean on plinths," Svendsen said.

"And I thought, if you take away the figure from that plinth, what are you left with?"

The result is a collection of "pieces of furniture or objects to lean on, to pose on, to have a cigarette against, to basically just have tactility with and interact with," Svendsen said.

The designer worked with artisan leatherworker Kay Symons and brand-experience creator Visual Project to make the Handle pieces, which feature brushed aluminium bases partially covered in stitched black leather.

"A lot of it's kind of very kink-coded and bondage," Svendsen explained. "This combination of metal and leather has all these connotations, and I'm exploring that."

He believes the final form of the Handle pieces is only achieved when people interact with them.

"In my head, it's almost like three materials: it's metal, it's leather, and then it's flesh, and all these are combined together when the viewer engages with it," Svendsen concluded.

Other recent unusual furniture featured on Dezeen includes one-off pieces made from discarded objects and a chair that was designed to encourage fidgeting.

The photography is by Eva Dixon.

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