A nice old chair, but unfortunately beyond repair.
This beautiful old rosewood chair was the first object in Edinburgh that I converted into a sculpture. Ms Mathison, who handed it in, told me that she really liked it, but that unfortunately it was well beyond repair, since woodworm had eaten away most of the wooden frame that holds the seat together. On closer inspection it was revealed that the bits that had been almost completely devoured by the worm, were made from another, much lighter, kind of wood than the rest of the chair. So here I had a chair that was really in excellent condition, apart from the seat, that just had to go. We were joking about how the chair was so pretty you could almost hang it on the wall, but that one really shouldn’t keep things without a use value.
Only the useful get to stay...
I picked up on the idea of finding an excuse for keeping the handsome little chair, and quickly decided for a kind of clothes valet, but here with a feminine angle, and also, since it is a rather small piece, limiting itself to only part of the lady’s garments. Rather obviously though, it is really just a reason to keep a delicate and beloved piece of furniture around, and in a form that takes good advantage of the pieces inherent sculptural qualities, and doesn’t bang the drum too much about what didn’t turn out so well constructed in the original chair.
Object no. 25