A Line Storage Bench: Form & Refine's Case for a Bench That's Lifted Off the Floor

The Form & Refine A Line Bench is a solid European oak storage bench designed by Jonas Herman of Herman Studio, built on angled legs that visibly lift the box off the floor rather than sitting flush against it. It comes in three lengths — 68 cm, 90 cm and 111 cm — and Objena catalogues the 68 cm bench alongside its matching A Line Shoe Rack, so a hallway can get a seat and a shoe store from the same collection.

A bench designed to look lifted, not just built

Herman's own description of the brief is specific: "this short storage bench is designed with the aim to create a small piece of furniture which is lifted from the floor. Further to that, it should be easy to use and fit in many different environments." The lift comes from the legs — cut at an angle rather than set square to the box — which reads as a deliberate, quiet detail rather than a structural afterthought. The lid opens on a natural bend leather handle, and the construction itself holds the lid in place once it's raised, so there's no separate hinge hardware to fail or squeak over years of hallway use. On the 68 cm bench that lid opens onto a single interior compartment measuring 63 × 30 × 26 cm; on the 111 cm bench, the same lid covers two separated compartments, 62.5 cm and 42 cm long, so shoes and scarves don't end up in the same pile.

Two lengths, one construction

The 68 cm bench weighs 12.2 kg net and sits 45 cm tall, the same height across all three sizes in the range, so a household can mix lengths along a wall without the seat line stepping up or down. The 111 cm bench weighs 19 kg for its larger box and two-compartment interior. Both share the same width — 35 cm — and the same build: FSC-certified solid European oak on top, an oak-veneer bottom panel underneath, natural oil finish throughout, made in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Nothing about the construction changes between sizes; only the box gets longer and gains a second compartment.

The shoe rack that comes from the same brief

The A Line Shoe Rack answers a narrower problem with the same visual language. Herman states the aim plainly: "the aim with this shoe rack was to design a piece of furniture that can store enough pairs of shoes without taking up too much space. At the same time our wish was to utilise the height of the shoe rack for a functional shelf." At 72 cm wide, 100 cm tall and only 25 cm deep, it holds up to twelve pairs of shoes across four rows — three pairs per row — while its top surface works as a narrow console for keys, mail or a lamp. It's made from the same solid European oak, finished the same way, and weighs 7.8 kg. Set beside the 68 cm bench, the two pieces read as a single hallway system rather than two separate purchases.

Where the range sits in Form & Refine's material story

Form & Refine is a Danish house founded in 2018 by Helle Herman Mortensen, Jonas Herman Pedersen and Lasse Lund Lauridsen, on a stated brief of letting "texture, color, and form speak for themselves" rather than adding decoration to carry the design. The A Line range's oak carries the house's FSC® C132484 chain-of-custody licence, the same certification behind pieces like the Trefoil Round Table — timber traced to a managed forest, not just labelled sustainable. Making the bench and shoe rack in Bosnia and Herzegovina, close to where European oak is milled, is consistent with the house's stated aim of manufacturing near its material source rather than shipping raw timber across a continent first.

The A Line Storage Bench, 68 cm, Oak and the A Line Shoe Rack, 72 cm, Oak are both part of Objena's Form & Refine profile. For the wider house story — the founders, the sourcing brief, and how the FSC chain of custody carries through pieces like the Trefoil Round Table and the Shoemaker Chair — read our Form & Refine house chapter.

Three questions

What sizes does the Form & Refine A Line Storage Bench come in? Three lengths, same 35 cm width and 45 cm height — a 68 cm bench with a single 63 cm interior compartment, a 90 cm bench in between, and a 111 cm bench with two separated compartments (62.5 cm and 42 cm). All three share the same angled-leg construction and leather-handle lid.

What is the A Line Storage Bench made from? FSC-certified solid European oak, with an oak-veneer bottom panel and a natural bend leather handle that lifts the lid. It's finished in natural oil and made in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The 68 cm bench weighs 12.2 kg net; the 111 cm bench weighs 19 kg.

Does the A Line Shoe Rack match the storage bench? Yes — same collection, same designer, same solid oak and natural-oil finish. The 72 cm shoe rack stands 100 cm tall and 25 cm deep, built to hold up to twelve pairs of shoes across four rows while doubling as a narrow console for a hallway.