experimental project
September 10 — October 5, 2018
A New Seat for an Old Tree
2018, a board of reclaimed wood from a demolished building in north side of Chicago (97” x 11.25” x 2.25”)
In this woodworking project, eight makers were each provided with one board of roughly uniform dimensions. The boards were all sourced from the same dismantled building on Chicago’s north side and presumably from the same old growth forest that is now most likely a clear-cut memory. The building was built in the late 19th century and the materials had been put to task framing the lives of those who occupied site over the last 120 odd years. This material will now be born anew and put to task in a new function for a new generation.
A good seat will elicit trust, comfort, and tranquility in its occupation. A chair or stool is an object that can operate alone or work in concert as a group. It carries the simultaneous potential to be social or solitary in its function. The history of seating in the 20th and 21st century has presented numerous shifts in the aesthetics, functionality, materiality, and technology of this familiar form. In this project we considered what is necessary to produce an object that stands out in relation to this ubiquitous history. We took on the notion of seating as our primary focus and worked toward objects that tow the line between sculpture and utility. We embraced the expressive potential of this form and produced objects that question our familiarity with common furnishings and the daily routines they support. We began this process by building a relationship with our material.
The way nails were pierced on every inch of the board’s corners shaped the idea of my seating object. The diagonally branching-out form influences its use and functionality which lets us consider the simple box as a tool itself, a tool for seating.
