Object ID Number: 2016FFSH2

Object Number: 2016FFSH2

Notes: The Foresters Folding Chair I made recently is in marked contrast to my earlier Walnut Bowl of Walnut that was in Albert LeCoff’s 1981 First North American Turned Objects Show. The bowl is a form exploration, function is secondary. It was expressive rather than utilitarian. The Foresters Folding Chair is primarily concerned with functional needs and fitness for purpose. For me, this chair carries an emotion component. Recently I was at a meeting of woodland owners, foresters and arborists. The meeting took place in a new building filled with metal folding chairs. This situation pushed me to find a solution that would have the woodland friendly people sitting on wood folding chairs from sustainably cut trees. The design would work in a community hall or around the kitchen table. It folds for storage when more room is needed or more can be brought out when the company arrives. It neatly packs flat should it be shipped, weighing approximately 15 lbs. The chair will slide conveniently into a flat box. The bowl and chair have different approaches to transitions. The Walnut Bowl of Walnut releases it’s inside colour to the outside. The red plane defines the inside of the bowl and then pours outside to complete the idea of connecting inside and outside. The Foresters Chair does a similar thing of bringing the outside inside, or it brings the tree home. It also transitions by folding flat and goes from one room to another. Outside to inside, folding down or folding up. It’s the relationships, transitions and connections that enliven sustainable work.