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Monday, January 26, 2015

Barrel Chair 2.0 with Nested Footrest

For an architect, the urge for creative expression never ceases. As I was sitting in my home studio office several months ago, I looked at the corner chair I had purchased online and always felt that something else should replace it - something better, of course, but what? Being an avid Frank Lloyd Wright fan, my thought for quite some time was to buy Mr. Wright's barrel chair design.
 
 
That would have been great, but for the cost! Then I could just "hear" Mr. Wright saying, "You're an architect. Why don't you design and build your own barrel chair?" So that is exactly what I've done.
 
Below is the circular plan of the chair showing the geometrical relationships. I printed it out full scale to use as a template when assembling the plywood pieces.
 
It's held together with wood glue and exposed brass wood screws. The seat is a pre-cut, pre-assembled piece of pinewood from Home Depot. The rest of the chair is 3/4" birch plywood with sanded acrylic seatback and curved base collector piece from a company called Clear Image (http://www.clearimagelaserservices.com/). The circular cut-outs at the bottom of each "leg" reiterate the circular theme as well as make the chair lighter. I'm really liking the 2-tone staining of my furniture designs to better express the structure and different pieces.
 
 
 
The footrest tucks underneath the chair when not in use. I got the seat cushions from Furniture Design Solutions (http://www.furnituredesignsolutions.us/). I had to then get Mr. Wright's Taliesin I table lamp (seen on the bookshelf), which happened to match the chair with wood color and shoji screen shade. I hope that Mr. Wright, if he had seen this chair, might have said to me, "Well, Slais - not bad. Not bad at all". Thank you, Mr. Wright, for all of your continued inspiration!!