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Orkney(ish) Chair
Oak, oat straw, twine, seagrass During my year on the Building Arts Programme, funded by QEST, I worked with Kevin Gould at The Orkney Furniture Maker. I spent seven weeks learning the techniques used in the making of an Orkney chair. I sketched Orkney chairs wherever I encountered them - in the Farm Museum at Kirbister, Kirwall Museum, the Folk Museum on Papa Westray and at Skail House. Slowly I understood the importance of this chair -a constant feature of island life, a symbol of resilience and island identity. My chair has one arm rest to suit an accordion player. The back was a nod to Windsor Chair backs and an experiment to see how the traditional straw back could be adapted. 
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