Pol
ash, elm, oak
H 1550mm W 600mm D 610mm
Visually arresting, this chair looks back at the roots and origins of chair making, whilst at the same time challenging our concept of how a chair form can look and function in the 21st Century. At first one may look at this chair and think - how can this chair be comfortable to sit upon. However, to then sit in this chair is to experience the craft of the chair maker. The gentle hollowing and lumbar fitting shape of the singular rear post allows the spine to be fully supported, making the sitter at once feel at ease within the piece. The use of a saddle carved seat, hand cut with the use of an adze hollow carving tool, allows the sitter to feel as if the seat has been molded especially for them. It is in fact this attention to detail of appreciating the human form, which really makes a satisfying chair. Pol is a large chair form created using traditional chair making methods. The legs of ash wood have a 'through-mortice and tenon' joint wedged with oak wood into the exceptionally wide and generous size of the saddle carved elm seat. The singular rear post is from an ash wood pole in round form, you could almost date the age of the piece of wood used by counting the growth rings on the top of the post. This rear post was selected for its beautiful curving form and was carefully seasoned to avoid shaking and cracking.
This is exceptionally difficult to achieve with large round wood sections. The rear post is fitted into the seat using a joint found on primitive Welsh back stools, whereby the back panel travels through the seat and is then fixed by use of a wedge. If you look under the chair you will notice this detail, but also pay attention to the way the joint doubles back and travels in a reverse direction to that of the rear post itself. One could argue that this is due to the magic of the chair maker himself!
