Project 4: Reg's Resurrection of a chair

When I started this project I wanted the chair to look like it had a sophisticated fashionable edge to it. I wanted to bring it the chair back to life by giving it a well-needed stain of a red mahogany colour. When I got the chair it didn’t have a back or a seat so instead of going back to how those both looked I thought I would make a nice design out of velvet acrylic rope pattern for the back and then for the seat I painted the upholstery fabric because after hours of searching textile shops I wasn’t able to find the right one for the chair. Therefore, instead of settling for something I could live with I painted white upholstery fabric to exactly the way I prefer it. I also made the frame to frame the upholstery seat to give it that much more of an emphasis. Also, because the ledge for the seat wasn’t big enough to accommodate both the arms (when folded up) and the seat I had to extend the ledge. You can see this in the pictures I took if you look carefully.

In summary what I did was:

1. Sanded down the chair
2. Put a pre stain on it
3. Stained it the mahogany red with 2 coats
4. Let it dry for 2 days before proceeding
5. Pinned the velvet rope right on the chair and started designing and then sewed it into place.
6. Made the frame for the seat, cut the mitered edges and then stained the inside border the mahogany red then treated the outside frame with wood finishing to still give it that traditional natural wood feel.
7. Nailed the seat together with an nail gun.
8. Painted the fabric then upholstered the seat with proper foam and dacron polyester to keep the foam from disintegrating.
9. Set the seat into the frame and added hinges to the right side of the seat so it could still flip up when the chair was collapsed.

PHOTOS OF PROCESS WORK

CAPTION: As you can see I extended the triangle to complete it so that the seat could fit in properly without falling through. Otherwise there was only 1 cm of wood supporting it on both sides. You can see where it joins because there is a line separating the two.

CAPTION: draw a lot of my inspiration from fashion and this picture inspired me for the back of the chair.

CAPTION: Several preliminary patterns were done on paper before the fabric. I was just experimenting with colour and combinations.

DRAWING

I would use this chair in a photo shoot or even in a decor shoot. I think it suits it well especially for a fashion set. The versatile nature of the chair lends it self to many settings from nature to a juxtaposition between industrial surroundings.

SKETCH WORK