500 Chairs

I picked up this book today for inspiration and eye candy. The book, 500 Chairs, Celebrating Traditional &innovative Designs is a collection of chairs, some functional, some merely "art" pieces collected by the editors at Lark Books. This volume is a part of a series of "500" books it is basically a picture book with one or two views of each chair and a listing of the artists.

While this book only contains contemporary makers there are three entries done by Sam Maloof. You will recognize some or the names from the Woodworking magazines and gallery pages. There are finely executed Philadelphia chairs and classic Windsor chairs along with "chairs" that look like they would be more at home in a collection of "500 Torture devices of the Spanish Inquisition". There are beautiful, highly figured wooden chairs and ones made out of the strangest materials imaginable, think latex gloves and industrial foam.

I've found this book to be very inspirational and gotten quite a few interesting ideas from it. Bendable plywood and marine grade plywood seem to be used by many of the artists, I think that I would like to try some forming with bendable plywood for a chair back and seat for a recliner. I also picked up a few ideas for a really nice shop stool that will be made from solid wood, perhaps in a free form design.

Next time you are in your local Barnes and Noble walk over to the Art section and look for an 8 inch square book that is 1 1/2 inches thick and browse through it, you might just want to take it home, I did.

What's another word for Thesaurus? Steven Wright