Milan 2015: industrial designer Konstantin Grcic has created a seating range assembled from flat wooden planes for Italian furniture brand Mattiazzi.

Presented at the Salone del Mobile furniture fair in Milan last week, the Clerici collection of solid wooden benches and chairs was designed by Grcic as a progression from his Medici range of angular furniture for Mattiazzi from 2013.

After expanding the brand's offering with a lounge chair in the previous range, Grcic wanted to further broaden its seating typologies and create a collection based around a bench.

"There are so many beautiful historical wooden benches but few contemporary ones," Grcic told Dezeen.

"The bench is a bigger piece of furniture therefore it kind of creates more of a space, it can relate to architecture in a different way to a chair," he continued. "I wanted to capture this architectural aspect of it, I wanted to learn from all the qualities that all these historical benches had. But of course do something contemporary."

The two- or three-seater benches are formed from flat planks in a variety of wood types, with perpendicular sections of the frame arranged to accommodate angled elements that support the body.

A horizontal element forms armrests on either side and provides support for the tilted backrest. The large seat sits at 90 degrees to the backrest.

The design is shaped to create "a bench that has the kind of posture like a chair," according to Grcic. "It's higher, shorter in the seat and more upright."

As benches are moved around much less then chairs, Grcic wanted to create a more solid item.

"A bench, unlike a chair, is a much more static object," he said. "You choose it to be in a certain place and then it stays there."

The accompanying Clerici chair is a lower, deeper version of the bench and is available with an upholstered seat. The bench models can also be ordered with coloured stain finishes.

The Clerici range was shown by Mattiazzi at the Salone del Mobile furniture fair in Milan last week, where Grcic was one of a series of designers who spoke out about the "awful" intrusion as visitors and journalists at the event.