Consisting of just four smooth wood slabs, the asymmetrical Nostromo bench by Last Ditch Design looks as brawny as it does beautiful. No scrawny legs here: One end of the seating platform sits on a stump-like cylinder, while the other rests on a rectangular hunk. On top of the platform, another slab has been carved into a game board for chess or checkers.
“My initial thought process was to create an almost monolithic form that looks as if it could have been carved from a single tree or piece of stone,” says Last Ditch founder Todd Hewitt. He added the game board as a way of bringing together families and friends in the home, or as an ice breaker for new encounters in a hotel or café. “This style of classic activity engages users and sparks discussion,” he says.
Hewitt grew up in a quaint town nestled in Wyoming’s Wind River Range, collecting comic books as a kid and experimenting with drawing and printmaking as a high schooler. He went on to study graphic design at the University of Wyoming and found a night job building rustic tables and chairs from lodgepole pine. “I immediately fell in love with the tactile nature and satisfaction of crafting a piece of furniture,” he says.
This side hustle led to a 30-year career in furniture production for such manufacturers as Henrybuilt and Lawson-Fenning, first in Seattle and later in Los Angeles, where he lives and works today. “Then, in 2022, I finally felt like it was time to fully invest in myself and introduce this new collection,” which includes the Nostromo bench, Hewitt says. “For me, it was now or never — my ‘last ditch’ opportunity.” And so Last Ditch Design was born.
Although Hewitt works in a range of materials, including velvet, rattan and metal, wood remains central to his practice. “There is something therapeutic about woodworking,” he says. “You quickly find yourself in a frame of mind that does not allow for distractions from the outside world. You are fully immersed in the moment, 100 percent concentrating on the task at hand.”
As a lover of trees, Hewitt uses only sustainably harvested, FSC-certified lumber to craft pieces intended to last for several generations as family heirlooms. With the Nostromo, he aims to take sustainability a step further in the near future.
“My goal is to offer a version that is produced from locally harvested fallen timbers that provides the same sense of refinement but in a version that has much more of a ‘living’ appearance,” he explains. “This truly sustainable design also provides an additional layer of conversation — to be able to share the source of the materials used.”
