"Fire-gazer" contemporary Windsor chair influenced by Alaskan hunters

When I was in Alaska for my BBC work in the past  I was lucky enough to spend time with the Yupik hunters who live on the coast north of Bristol Bay.  They base the construction of their kayaks on their body dimensions... so the width will be the distance from finger tip to elbow, the curve of the side equivalent to three fingers' width etc.  I love the way this tailors the boat to the person and escapes the tyranny of numbers.  So the Fire Gazer chair  pays homage to this tradition.

The stick widths across the back are the same as my finger widths from thumb to little, and those dimensions are echoed elsewhere in the piece. The height can be tailored to the person that the chair is custom-made for.  And the sticks and stretchers are all shaped like tiny kayaks. So, unlike traditional Windsor chairs the sticks of the Fire Gazer are curved to fit the back.  The visual result is a dynamic flowing pattern that moves as you walk round the chair, and a petal-like fan of sticks that frames the sitter like an Elizabethan collar.

This is a softwood prototype for the chairs which will be available in English oak or English ash and will be hand-tool finished to a create a subtle faceted surface which will catch the firelight.

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