These ‘Sylvan’ chairs, made of English oak (washed) and leather, featured in the V&A exhibition, ‘British Design 1948-2012’.  They were originally commissioned in 1985 by a customer whose semi-circular dining room looked out into an adjacent woodland in Hampshire. The brief called for the table and chairs to encourage informal, relaxed and comfortable meals with family and friends. The irregular form echoes the feeling of the woodland extending into the house.

 

Each component of the chairs is built of multiple consecutive layers of English oak, glued to the complex curvatures. This results in extraordinarily strong and resilient structures that eliminate the weaknesses inherent in traditional chair construction. The curvatures in the back provide lumbar support, and the leather cushion is stuffed with long-lasting natural fibres.

 

These chairs are a re-interpretation of the earlier ones, but are distinct in their details.