Our Story

City Bench grew out of our passion for building beautiful objects with meaning, soul, and a story. It also grew out of a reverence for the trees that line our streets, fill our public spaces, and enliven our campuses. Those trees represent our shared space and common stories – they are also a vital and overlooked resource.

There are over 70 billion trees in U.S. metropolitan areas. New Haven removes more than 600 trees each year, New York City fells 7,000, and hundreds of thousands more come down across the country. Most of these grand, historic trees are relegated to the landfill, ground into mulch, or chopped into firewood each year.

We extend the life left in those trees by building uniquely hand-crafted furniture that tells their stories. Community and connection to place are built into everything we create – whether that community is a big city, a small town or a much-loved school. Each piece bears a “birth certificate” describing the tree’s origin, significance, and story. Our aim is to build a meaningful and lasting enterprise, which creates positive environmental and social change, and contributes to the vitality of the communities in which we operate.

Who We Are

TED ESSELSTYN is an artist and furniture maker. For the past 15 years his art has explored the whimsy and fascination of childhood, while boldly experimenting with materials to enliven children’s spaces in public libraries throughout the northeast, as well as nature centers, hospitals and hands-on children museums. Inevitably, the goal of his installations was to create “a sense of place” and tell a story that would resonate with children and adults alike. It was while working on a trash museum exhibit depicting our increasingly “throw away society,” that the idea for creating handcrafted furniture from street trees was inspired. Connecting his clients to their pieces while embedding a natural story in them became the goal. Street trees, considered waste by most municipalities, were the solution. Here was a way to “upcycle” a perceived waste product while creating sustainable, unique and meaningful furniture. It also gave people a story to tell and tied them with “a sense of place.” City Bench is the result.

Ted lives with his wife, three children, four cats, five chickens and dog in Higganum, CT.

ZEB ESSELSTYN has had a variety of incarnations. He has been a builder, coordinated rock concerts, managed book tours, worked in the advertising business and on film sets, and he led trips for Outward Bound and the National Outdoor Leadership School. Most recently he was a freelance journalist. He is a storyteller committed to the idea of turning waste streams to value streams through collaboration.

Zeb is a graduate of The Journalism School at Columbia University and lives in New Haven, CT.

Why is this image branded onto each City Bench piece?

We grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and we still feel strongly rooted to home. “Life is Sharing a Park Bench” is a four-story mural in downtown Cleveland and it has always held an iconic place in our imagination. (It’s on the Superior Building at East 9th and Rockwell.) It was commissioned by Carl Stokes, the first black mayor in the US and painted by John Morrell and a cast of volunteers in 1969. It escaped demolition in the early 90’s after citizens rallied to its support.

The mural and how it came to be represents what we at City Bench aim to embody: community, collaboration, engagement, art, beauty and a reimagining of the urban environment and its resources.

(The mural is also the logo for the AASWG, the Association for the Advancement of Social Work with Groups. The image is used with the blessing of Mr. Morrell’s wife.)