STRAP FURNITURE BY BOYM PARTNERS (1996)
Developed in the late 1990s after Boym Studio relocated to New York City’s Meatpacking District, Strap Furniture emerged directly from the neighborhood that surrounded the studio and the material inspriations that rose from it. Each morning, Constantin and Laurene Boym passed piles of discarded industrial packaging materials - objects intended to protect products in transit before being immediately thrown away. Among them, polypropylene strapping tape stood out as an unexpectedly sophisticated material worthy of investigation.
Designed to secure hundreds of pounds during shipping, the woven plastic straps offered remarkable tensile strength while remaining lightweight and inexpensive. Rather than treating the material as waste, the Boyms reimagined it as a structural element, weaving it across simple steel and wooden frames to create chairs, benches, mirrors, and tables. Industrial packaging now became furniture.
Designed to secure hundreds of pounds during shipping, the woven plastic straps offered remarkable tensile strength while remaining lightweight and inexpensive. Rather than treating the material as waste, the Boyms reimagined it as a structural element, weaving it across simple steel and wooden frames to create chairs, benches, mirrors, and tables. Industrial packaging now became furniture.
Like much of the Boyms' work, Strap Furniture demonstrates how a change in context can completely transform the meaning of an ordinary object. The collection proposes that innovation often begins not with new materials, but with seeing overlooked ones differently.
COOPER HEWITT EXHIBITION (2000)
Presented publicly in 1999 as part of “Conversation Pieces,” a show curated by Lloyd Schwan, Strap Furniture quickly attracted critical attention. The following year, selections from the collection were included in the Cooper Hewitt National Design Triennial, where the Strap Chair became one of the exhibition's most widely publicized works.
For the exhibition, the Boyms proposed extending the material beyond furniture itself by using industrial strapping tape as a temporary architectural intervention across the museum's historic Carnegie Mansion. Though only partially realized, the installation used strapping tape to visually connect multiple floors of the exhibition, demonstrating that the project's central idea could operate at the scale of both architecture and furniture.
SELECTED OBJECTS
Strap Chair (available)
The Strap Chair was the series most successful and publicized piece, this example comes from the collection of Constantin and Laurene Boym, 1 of 3 editions produced. A bare wooden frame is covered in black straps; the most basic form of each material is used with no change in color. The alternative approach to traditional upholstery is simple yet effective, creating a constellation of linearity.
Steven Skov Holt described the design as “cushions of air encased in a network of lines.”
in 2000, Strap Furniture was selected for the first National Design Triennial in New York.
Strap Mirror
Placing strap tape onto a mirror allows for photos, notes, or other decorations to be affixed to the surface. The material becomes geometric, creating a subtle shift in reality as the mirror now reflects back through the rectangular frames created by the black polypropylene overlapping itself.
Strap Bench
Strap tape wraps around a low bench which can also function as a table. Contrasting strap colors draw attention to the top while allowing the lower storage compartment to float into the background. The box shaped object subtly reflects the original setting for the tape. The function of the polypropylene is the same as when it is used for shipping or construction purposes: it reinforces the pieces to keep them in tension and held together. Now, however, the object is indisposable and designed for permanent use.
CONCLUSION:
More than a furniture collection, Strap Furniture reflects one of the defining principles running throughout the Boyms' practice: meaningful design often begins with careful observation. By elevating an overlooked industrial material without disguising its origins, the project challenges conventional ideas of value, beauty, and craftsmanship. The series remains a compelling reminder that the city's discarded materials can become the starting point for entirely new forms of design.
