Joris Laarman's SYMBIO at Friedman Benda Merges Design with Ecology

Joris Laarman returns to New York with 'SYMBIO,' a solo exhibition at Friedman Benda from May 8 to July 24, 2026. The show introduces the Ply Loop series—furniture made with biodegradable resin and plywood—and the Symbio benches, 3D-printed from carbon-storing concrete with bio-active channels for moss growth. Laarman's Amsterdam-based Joris Laarman Lab combines digital fabrication, AI, and robotic techniques. The exhibition follows his retrospective at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Concurrently, his Maker and Microstructures series appear in 'The Only True Protest is Beauty' at Fondazione Dries Van Noten in Venice, opening April 25, 2026. Laarman's work is held in MoMA, Centre Pompidou, V&A, Rijksmuseum, and LACMA. He has won the Wall Street Journal Innovator of the Year Award and the European Commission's STARTS Prize.