Benny and Christian Zenga live life on the edge. Known for creating skateable sculptures, the pair form the Vancouver-based Zenga Bros — multidisciplinary artists and fabricators working to infuse play and curiosity (and skateboarding) into the design of everyday spaces. When their longtime friend — and Canadian professional skater known for his adaptable style — Andy Anderson came to them with a proposition to collaborate on a project in partnership with watchmakers Swatch, the Zenga Bros knew what they wanted to build: a collection of furniture that could be adapted into epic skate-proof props. In other words, Andy’s dream studio. 

From this, Skate Break was born. Showcased in a 20-minute short film, the office-turned-skatepark is the result of almost four months of work from the Zenga Bros and a week of rigorous test-skating by Anderson on set. But the idea has deeper roots. Growing up skating, the brothers naturally fell into a skate-design niche and have been interested in reimagining how to make the modern office more playful for years.

Christian first came up with the idea for the transforming desk ramp when he was studying at Emily Carr University of Art + Design back in 2014, under his solo practice Studio Huizenga. Then, earlier this year, the duo took their prototypes to the stage in an exhibition of the same name at Vancouver gallery Trapp Projects. 

And while some may consider the skatepark a workplace hazard, the brothers remind us that sitting at a desk can also have serious consequences to your health — and maybe 15 minutes of skateboarding is just what the doctor ordered. “We yearn for spaces with more engagement,” says Benny (both brothers unsurprisingly work from collapsible standing desks at home). 

Every item of furniture in the Zenga Bros’ proof-of-concept collection can be completely transformed with the push of a button or pull of a lever into ideal skate spots. From desk-, lounge- and lamp-ramps to a boardroom table and barrier bench, these modular designs made of fir plywood and steel playfully unite form and function. The collection even includes a remodeled camper van, dubbed the Ramper Camper, designed to make skateboarding accessible to underfunded communities. 

Skateboarding is certainly a unique metric for measuring the success of a piece of furniture, but it’s not the only one. Since these lounge chairs and standing lamps must be able to withstand hundreds of pounds of force slamming against them, durability was imperative to the design process. “If Anderson is going to be hitting it 30 times in a row, he has to know that on the 31st try, nothing will break or shift,” explains Benny.

So how do you design furniture that can withstand this kind of force, while still looking — and feeling — like furniture? “You want things that are actually fun to skate, but fitting that into the scale of furniture was quite tricky,” says Christian. Inspired by the aesthetic of DIY skate studios, the brothers played into the materiality of their designs by embracing plywood and infusing the collection with a sense of relatability. Scuffs and dirt are inevitable in skating, and the Zenga Bros want their furniture to be lived in and used.

Comfort and safety are baked into the basics of the Zenga Bros’ design. When the lounge chairs act as seating, they are designed with comfort in mind, and when they act as ramps, they have been diligently designed for safety. “It’s an embodied design process,” says Benny, “We’re drawing the transitions on the wall and wondering how smooth is that going to be? How jarring will that feel?” 

In the end, Andy Anderson’s dream studio courtesy of the Zenga Bros was a major hit, and the skater emphasized that the striking steel lamp-ramp “makes way too much sense.” But somewhere along the way, this project may have become the brothers’ dream studio too. And although it is not currently available for mass production, the brothers are making waves: You can already find the desk ramp in a community space in Vancouver.

“These dream builds are sculptural, skateable objects. Whether at home, in the office, or out on the street, any space is transformed by these multi-configuration rejuvenation stations,” say the brothers. “Why Skate Break? To free the mind and invigorate the body.”