This chair is a project made for Slanted/enchanted, an exhibition that celebrates handmade experimentation and improvised production methods. An exhibition curated by Jamie Wolfond and talking place at Erin Stump Project Gallery.
«The Gardener had a broken chair. He fixed it with an old garden hose.» Behind this story, this project is about how we often use untraditional materials to make models that simulate finished objects. But sometimes, the material we use to fake another one turns out to have its own qualities, and opens up possibilities.
For Slanted/Enchanted, we wanted to present a chair that looks like a model, almost an ongoing curve study on a basic wood base, but yet is a finished and functional piece. Thus, we used hoses for the property and possibilities that it can offer: smooth bouncing curves, crushed parts, flexibility in backrest/armrests and strength. Steel profiles are inserted into the front feet hose parts to rigidify it.
The project is also about our fascination for all the anonymous hand-repaired furniture, which modestly exists outside the design world and history, yet often manifests very unique and spontaneous solutions.
Erin Stump Projects, 1558 Dupont street, Toronto. January 21-February 26, 2022. Photo © Sean Davidson