Chair design | Matter Observed

Chicago Home+Garden‘s third annual “Chairs for Charity” was held at Consentino‘s beautiful West Loop showroom on Wednesday night. The evening was a resounding success with proceeds benefiting Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA). Matter & Order has been a huge fan of this event ever since being a part of the inaugural Chairs for Charity back in 2010. Some of Chicago’s leading designers and artists took inspiration from all sorts of places and transformed existing chairs, usually in disrepair, into showstopping, interior design centerpieces. Check out this year’s designs below:

“Palermo” by Aimee Wertepny of PROjECT. interiors

Designer’s Statement: “PROjECT. was inspired to create a chair that’s a glam mash-up of chic and cozy, edgy and sezy. A statement piece that’s as engaging to the eye as it is to the touch (and tush).”

“Declan Chair” by Francine Turk; Jillian O’Neill Interior Design

Designer’s Statement: “Jillian O’Neill has a passion for designing furniture and Francine Turk was inspired to paint roses after stumbling upon an amazing rose garden while on a trip with O’Neill in Charlotte, NC.”

“Rejent” by Jennifer Sweas Design

Designer’s Statement: “Vintage 1970s chair revamped into classic contemporary. I wanted to take the great bones of this chair, polish up the frame, and revamp the upholstery with textures that make it warm, touchable, yet clean in appearance to complement and interior. It is quiet and elegant with classic contemporary styling. I selected a gorgeous ash-colored leather, with mohair in a silvery gray on the seat and a frost tone on the back to contrast with the bright polished chrome frame.”

“Gathered Together” by Souice Horner Ltd.

Designer’s Statement: “Gathered Together was inspired by the resurgence of the industrial found objects movement that’s recently gained a lot of momentum. The initial exhilaration of finding a one-of-a-kind item on a treasure hunt is short-lived when we later discover that the piece has simply gathered dust in a drawer or otherwise dimly lit chamber. When gathered together, these items create a magnificent way to revisit the past – while managing the point towards the future.”

“Mahogany Belt Chair” by Blake Sloane of Rebuilding Exchange

Designer’s Statement: “This chair was particularly beat up when I found it. It had been reupholstered countless times in the past century, then left under a porch for the last 20 years. After removing the nearly 100 rusty tacks, it took a little care to re-glue the mortise and tenon joinery, and a lot of elbow grease to clean up the mahogany frame. The only part I rebuilt was the chair seat, from reclaimed mahogany flooring. I often use belts to reupholster furniture, and feel the bring so much color and texture to the piece. I especially love that you can still see all of the ear and tack holes from previous upholstery. Perhaps in a few decades someone else will come along and ind another creative way to modify this chair.”

“Mandarin” by Pradeep Shimpi of Shiani

Designer’s Statement: “The classic library chair and especially the armchair are well designed and comfortable. I wanted to create a more angular, modern juxtaposition to the curves of the original and add of bit of whimsy with the brushed aluminum and oriental feel.”

“08.24.12″ by Paul Schulman Design

Designer’s Statement: “In thinking about what a chair is, its meaning and usage, I thought about chairs that have reference to place and events. This chair was originally in a monastery library. Made of thick walnut with very utilitarian design, it just feels solid; it spoke to me about integrity. When I made this chair, I was thinking about a day of grave violence in our city, and the plastic rods represent shots – with every gun shot, integrity is sacrificed.”

“Max” by Debra Phillips of Scentimental Gardens

Designer’s Statement: “This once-proud chair lost its pizzazz; worn, torn, and dirty, but what wonderful bones it possessed. Max was in need of a contemporary update with fabrics, paint, and a plethora of nail heads. He shines once again.”

“The Cork Cathedra” by Trevor O’Neil Design

Designer’s Statement: “Furniture is sculpture to me. And as much as I love to engineer a good chair, sometimes I’d rather just carve one out. Using only reclaimed or leftover materials made this project that much more rewarding. Only the LEDs in this chair were purchased new.”

“Rally Bench” by Carson Maddox Studios

Designer’s Statement: “Rather than create something out of a whole cloth, the goal is to transform the mundane, to take a pedestrian object that we regularly encounter but rarely notice. To see something with fresh eyes and imagine the possibilities. That, and a racing stripe.”

“New Mexico Bergere” by Lance Lawson of space519

Designer’s Statement: “The light color of this chair reminded me of the hone-colored wooden vigas and furniture of Santa Fe. Its simple, strong lines provided the perfect backdrop for the bold, bright woven colors and pattern of the blanket. I loved marrying the distinctly European form of the chair with the ethnic feel of the upholstery.”

“Intern Gilly” by Erik W. Kolacz & Keitha A. Brathwaite of Contrast Design Group, Inc.

Designer’s Statement: “The muse for Intern Gilly was our summer intern – a modern classic with an unconventional streak. A juxtoposition of clean lines and funky upholstery (with exposed seams) hints at the fact that you never know what to expect from this gal. Oh, Gilly, behave!”

“Noir Bloom” by Joel Klaff & John Diekmann of Workroom Couture Home

Designer’s Statement: “A modern approach to a traditional wingback chair, creating a dialogue of contrast: black/white, masculine/feminine, and plaid/floral.”

“The Violette Chairs” by Wendy Kaplan of The Chair Affair

Designer’s Statement: “These chairs had been left for dead at my upholsterer’s – stripped of fabric, but with these great bones. I envisioned them as sexy French parlor chairs. The smoky purple velvet has a seductive feel, and the hand-blocked and embroidered fabric from Seema Krish adds a hint of the exotic.”

“A Club Chair Named Desire” by Michele E. Fitzpatrick of Verde Design Studio, Inc.

Designer’s Statement: “I had always wanted to incorporate Tony’s (Fitzpatrick) work into a piece of furniture. The reproduction of the drawing collage ‘Desire’ as a cushion seemed to be a warm and sensuous use of this lovely work of art.”

A special “thank you” to my friend Vanessa for these lovely photos of the event!

The Loop chaise lounge is a hybrid chair/rug created by young Dutch designer Sophie De Vocht, c. 2011.

The next time you take a seat in a chair, whether it is an ordinary café chair or a luxuriously appointed lounge chair, consider yourself privileged. Though chairs have been around for thousands of years, it wasn’t too long ago that only the wealthy and members of the highest echelons of society were able to take a load off in what we commonly know as a chair: a seat supported by four legs and a back. The bourgeois and working classes had always been relegated to sit on backless wooden benches or stools. By the 1880’s, however, the Second Industrial Revolution was in full swing and companies like Chicago’s Sears, Roebuck, & Co. sold “machined sets” available for the masses, democratizing the once aristocratic concept of a chair. Since then, the chair has been one of the most designed and written about artifacts of the modern age.

Now you may be asking yourself, “What makes the chair so special?” Aside from it being a mirror reflection of our culture, and giving us a glimpse into the architecture and technology of tomorrow, a chair can make an ordinary space extra-ordinary. Its form, material, and color all converge at once creating a functional sculpture and an anchor to a room’s design. Much like a work of art, the chair can elevate atmosphere and communicate an aesthetic unlike any other piece of furniture.

The evolution of the chair over the past 150 years is quite remarkable – from the early craftsmen working with only their hands and simple tools, to modern designers using AutoCAD and computer numerical control (CNC) machines – the chair has come a long way, and we think it deserves a little attention. So go on and find a seat (if you’re not already in one), lean back, get comfy, and picture yourself in one of these modern (and not-s0-modern) gems sure to be a piece de résistance to any interior.

Jean Prouvé’s Cité lounge chair, originally designed for a competition to furnish the student residence halls at the University of Nancy, France, c. 1930.

Pierre Paulin’s No. 577 chair, sometimes referred to as the “Tongue” because of its sinuous form, sits directly on the floor allowing you to relax in a comfortable, informal posture, c. 1967.

This Peter Behrens chair model was designed for the dining room of the Behrens’ villa on the Darmstadt Mathildenhohe upon the occasion of the exhibition “Ein Dokument Deutscher Kunst,” c. 1901.

The Pelican chair by Finn Juhl is an ode to one of his influences, sculptor Jean Arp, c. 1941.

The Elisabette arm chair by Sam Baron has connections to the French interiors of the XVI century. His works embody the chic spirit typical of the French decorative tradition, c. 2011.

According to a sale catalogue of 1883, this chair, designed by Christopher Dresser, was originally intended for a drawing room or boudoir. It combines a simple form with an unusual arrangement of vertical and diagonal struts in the back, c. 1880.

The Distex lounge chair, model no. 807 by Gio Ponti, was one of the early “Atomic Age” chair designs, c. 1953.

The RE-TROUVÉ Collection by Patricia Urquiola is inspired by the meeting of the present and the past: nostalgic design from the fifties with its curls and spirals combined with modern production, c. 2012.

The Maxell chair by Phase Design is geometric poetry, with harmonious proportions and intriguing angles all unifying to form the sculptural seat, c. 2012.

To see more chairs, pick up a copy of the August Today’s Chicago Woman magazine, on newsstands now. If you don’t live in Chicago, you can read it on-line here.

Chairs for Charity 2012

The Chair

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