Plank at Bene
The trendy products of the Italian family-owned company Plank have reinforced the Bene portfolio since March. Myto, Miura and recently Monza are the innovative furnishings from Plank’s prize-winning industrial designer Konstantin Grcic: «essential, plain and minimalist.Cultural synthesis for the best in design
Geographically the company Plank is located on the borders of South Tyrol in Italy. The people at Plank know how to make the best use of this border location; they integrate all the fruitful characteristics they find in the cultures of their neighbouring countries. And from this they create the cultural synthesis that has made a name for Plank far beyond these borders.
The company has a history going back over a century: It was established by Karl Plank in 1893 and has been handed down from father to son until today. Through this long period the company has slowly changed its orientation from craftsmanship to an industrial basis. Martin Plank has been running the company since 1979 – recently with the support of son Michael.
Industrialisation combined with manual skill
Plank now uses sophisticated automated systems for its production line, wherever they allow cost and quality of the products to be optimised. But manual skill is still the essential factor on which many processing steps are based: this work is still done by hand.
Functionality and aesthetics
Plank chairs do not try to blend homogeneously into their environment – their purpose is rather coexistence and exchange, an exciting interplay between functionality and aesthetics. The issue here is harmony of form and function, reduction to the essential, a simplicity that expresses the technological research behind it.
Quality and environmental awareness
The position this company has taken on ecological responsibility is also impressive. Plank was one of the first Italian companies in the furniture industry to receive the quality certification DIN ISO 9001 and the environmental certificate DIN ISO 14001. In the course of adjusting to the new quality standards Plank has now set up an integrated management system in accordance with ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:1996.
