chairsmith

True to form, I haven't strayed too far off the beaten track.  Chairs.  This one is a current favourite.  An Ercol rocking chair, Windsor Quaker to be precise.  Picked up at auction after failing to meet its reserve, this sorry fellow was confined to the 'brown furniture' section at the auction house.  That section which, because of all the unfashionable (read ugly) brown, no-one fears to tread … except perhaps for the up-cycler.

The original dark brown stain (varnish, lacquer, call it what you will) on these chairs is fairly invincible, and I've seen one too many unsuccessful attempts at trying to remove it in order to get to the beautiful blonde wood beneath.  Stripping the chair down and all that goes with is a huge undertaking, and the results rarely look good.  So when considering how to transform this little rocker into something more eye-catching, I opted for what some might consider an easy life.  And no doubt there will be others who liken this kind of make-over to a criminal offence.  

Like. I. Care.  

Grey spray paint to the rescue, and I like it this way.  Plus I like spray paint … it's exciting.  Difficult to master, yes.  And being difficult to master means it makes you swear a lot.  But hey-ho, I also like swearing!  Post make-over this chair now gets sat on, rocked … you know, all the stuff a rocking chair should experience in life.  Stuff it wasn't experiencing, nor likely to experience, while hanging out at the auction house waiting for someone to come up with a winning bid.

We popped along to North London Vintage Market on Saturday afternoon - to browse you understand, nothing more, nothing less. We thought we'd left our chairsmith hat at home, but it appears that wherever we go the chairsmith hat goes too, as, after much deliberation and ooh-ing and aah-ing - OK, OK, it didn't take much - we walked away with a quite delightful Ercol rocking chair beautifully made from elm and beech and classic Ercolani.  Now, whilst putting together this post we've realised we've still to unload our booty from the back of the car (ooops), so here are some super pics of someone else's delightful Ercol rocker - this one is a Cowhorn rocker and it's a beauty don't you think?

Alejandra Laviada creates sculptures with found objects in order to alter our conceptions of everyday objects.

Helmut Palla transforms found chairs into unique art pieces.

P.E.L./Cox stacking chair dating from the 1930s. Produced in large numbers between the 1930s and 1950's by all the large industrial furniture companies of the time, P.E.L., Cox and Remploy, these chairs do not usually house a makers-mark, although there are slight variations in the design build. The general design is one which covers all practicalities; sturdy, light-weight and space saving in their ability to stack. 

Ercol's stacking chairs date from the late 1950s and came in different sizes; each size had its own coloured dot on the back. A red dot signified the chair was designed for smaller children, then came the blue dot for larger children, and next up the green dot.