Recently I have been give the opportunity to be involved in a 'Maker Project' which celebrates Britain’s excellence in design and manufacturing. The project will utilise reclaimed tubular band stand chairs as produced throughout the mid 20th Century by Cox and Co. Reduced to the skeletal frame, makers will be asked to re-interpret the piece in their own style of working employing either traditional, post-digital processes, or combination
of both.
Tord Boontje has commented on the value of working with chairs, ‘For me chairs are really nice vehicles for experimenting... A chair is a good piece from which to communicate,’
(Boontje. T, 2015). It is envisioned that practitioners whom hold no prior experience working with furniture, or those less familiar with the heritage of the bandstand chair will engage with this project, and feel a kinship towards, arguably, the most addressed functional item in history. The unique approach and interpretation of each practitioner will be imperative in affirming the value of creative thinking and practice to future maker.
Premièring at the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair 2019, the finished artefacts will celebrate what is achievable through the practice of post-digital and traditional applied processes. These will be supported by visual reflective diaries that will provide essential data, this being a structured intervention to
elicit a focused reflective practice report from the participants