He refers to himself as the “re-inventor” and creates unusual and modern furniture in imaginative ways using raw materials and components. His one-of-a-kind creations are made out of recycled and reclaimed materials.
“Sometimes the objects I discover simply inspire an overall design idea and other times the objects actually become the raw material for the piece. If I were forced to work with one material, in one style, using only one process, I would be completely miserable. The variety of projects with which I’m involved energizes me. Typically I have five to ten pieces in process at the same time and up to twenty concepts that I am developing; therefore, when I am in the studio working on a piece and come to a point where I need to make a design decision or need a break, I can simply move across the room and focus on a different project.
My objective is to use materials in such a way that I completely transform their original purpose into something new and innovative. I achieve this through repetition, arrangement and stripping materials down to their raw essence. More often than not, the most fascinating aspect of a material lies under its exterior surface. I love tearing things apart to see what interesting parts I can find and wield into something completely unique. I am surprised by what materials I stumble across and what ideas pop in my head.”
The types of materials Caldwell uses are wood, metal, glass, plastic and stone to more unconventional items such as playing cards, defunct pianos, computers, books, bicycles, children’s toys and even bathroom stall dividers. He takes these objects and materials and transforms them from their original purpose into something new and innovative.
BRC Designs makes limited edition objects, one-of-a-kind pieces, and custom materials from the inception of the idea. Each piece of furniture is handcrafted by a small team of skilled craftsmen under his close artistic direction in his studio located in Spartanburg, SC (USA).
Benjamin Rollins Caldwell’s work has been featured in many design publications including Dwell Asia, Robb Report, Interior Design, Manhattan Magazine, Florida Design, The Boston Globe, The New York Daily News, Midi and Eco Lux Magazine.
 
Glass tables by BRC Designs
The transparent glass surface of his tables enables him to show the base, that is constructed from different materials and constructions although he considers glass as a timeless material and he loves to incorporate it into his designs in such a way that the piece of glass actually becomes part of the design rather than just a table-top. These bases can be constructed from salvaged wood like in ‘Wingin it’ in which the plexiglass surface is secured to the wood with bots and wing nuts (Figure 1); 3-dimensional molecular models (Figure 2) in ‘Periodic table”, which consists of wooden balls and dowels forming the structure on which the tri-hexagonal glass surface rests; 64 Egyptian-inspired pyramids of various heights and colors, some of them protruding through the glass surface like in “protrusion low table” (Figure 3); copper pipes welded together in a maze-like construction inspired by the windows computer pipe screen saver like in the “American Pipe Dream Low Table” series (Figure 4); or motherboards, computer chips, LED screens and hard drive disks recycled from computers in the “Binary” colletcion (Figure 5,6). In the Binary Collection the glass for the low tables and side tables is overstock tempered glass found in the same warehouse that all the computer parts were sourced. The glass for the Binary Tables is held in place by custom made brackets, and fits on top of the table in such a way that the glass top becomes an extension of the table and not just a piece of glass that lays of a sculptural element.
Sometimes the glass is not only used as the cover of an intricate support by can be a source of inspiration such as the abstract nature of stained glass windows, which led to the “Mosaic Low Table” consisting of half inch tempered glass inset in a stainless steel frame and finished in a high glass silver paint finish (Figure 7).
By recycling and experimenting, he rethinks the functionality of the conglomerate of objects into a new and unique object that although remains functional is more a work of art.