benji sheppard /// @banjofromnowhere
Benji Sheppard, Design Academy Eindhoven 2026 graduate, multimedia designer and storyteller from St. Augustine, Florida, creates work influenced by experiences in the conservative South, religious deconstruction, and class division. He communicates complex experiences through various mediums, from steel to sound, adapting the approach to each project's unique demands.
a chair submitted in response to an application assignment for Design Academy Eindhoven. assignment required the use of exclusively one hard material, one soft material, and one transparent material; used here, metal transportation pallets (hard material), clothing (soft material), plastic moving wrap (transparent material). reflects the improvinizational nature of living in an ever-changing environment, never having a stable place to live, and never knowing whether something might last. is it worth it to try and establish roots, if you never know when you’ll have to pack it all up and leave again? why put your everything into a home, when it won’t be your home for long?
future projects will explore the topic in more detail, but this project was my way of initially acknowledging and coming to terms with the instability in my life, something forced on me as a child, but something I have only continued as an adult, moving from place to place, studying in a country foreign to me, and choosing to leave my home country forever. it never feels worth it to settle down, unless I know it’ll be forever. but if nothing is forever, how do I know when to take that leap of faith and risk losing it all? for now I’ll keep one box packed, one foot in the doorway, and my suitcase close at hand. who knows when you might lose it all, so better safe than sorry, right?