Miranda Salmon
The Story Chair
Sycamore, sycamore and ripple sycamore veneer and American cherry
Stories – children’s stories, fairy stories, good books and life stories are all an important part of our lives.
The inspiration for this chair is very much around the idea of a Windsor kitchen corner chair, a key feature of many older houses where visitors often dropped by or where, due to limited heating or limited space one might sit in the evenings to read. I like the ‘traditional’ storytelling idea and the images it creates of hearths, music, long evenings, life history, shared experiences, wizards, dragons and hobbits.
Similarly, even in smaller modern houses much of our time is spent in the kitchen preparing meals and this is therefore the place where family and friends often gather. Some of my favourite times have been spent sitting in kitchens with a glass of wine or cup of coffee talking about life and sharing experiences.
The aim of this project was to build a chair that will provide a comfortable place for family and friends to sit and talk, a place where visitors are drawn to sit and feel comfortable. The chair was designed to be suitable for storytelling to children and therefore be wide enough for an adult with a child. The shaped, curved back was a design nod to an open book.
Key to the design was that, whilst being a wooden chair, it should be comfortable either as a dining chair or an easy chair, and that it should be ergonomically designed to support a good sitting posture. Whilst the original inspiration was a Windsor chair, my own experience had been that they are often not comfortable for longer periods of time. Looking for further design sources I remembered the Rietveld Red & Blue Chair, which I had been able to try out on a visit to the States 20 years earlier. Although it had flat surfaces, the rake of the seat proved surprisingly comfortable. A substantial amount of the design time therefore was spent experimenting with seat hight, rake and back curve. I have found that the height has proved comfortable for both dining and relaxing.
I am pleased to say that in over 25 years of exhibiting and using it, it has had a very positive response for comfort.
Oh, and the arms are designed to be wide enough to rest hand, cup or glass!
Tidal Summer – Jewellery/Valet box
An individual box made from European Ash and Ash veneer. The outside of the box is textured utilising the natural features of the timber, stained with a water based stain and has a scattering of silver leaf to create the sense of sunlight on water. Internally there are two layers for a range of items.
