Chairs In Memoriam

My recent travels took me to London Ontario. Visiting Forest Lawn Cemetery I happened upon a particular memorial that drew my attention. Three huge chairs sit facing each other near the center of the gardens; they are cement, painted white and have specific markings. Historically, this section was allocated for freemasons, and many of the markers and headstones bear similar symbols to the ones that appear on the seats. 

The size and positions are intended to replicate the ones used in traditional Masonic ceremonies. They are imposing, yet inviting, sitting upon raised platforms with stairs leading to them. (Like the chairs used in Masonic temples, the number of steps leading to each chair is different, and each number is symbolic of something; you have to be a Mason to know the secret, however.)

They make a perfect place to reflect on memories of time shared with loved ones.

These chairs are beautiful monuments in a peaceful setting. Forest Lawn is located at 2001 Dundas St. East. 

Chair-Spotting: David Mazzucchelli’s Asterios Polyp

Do chairs make the man?

“Wow. Modern.” Hana’s exclamation is an understatement: Asterios Polyp’s apartment is a veritable trove of iconic Modernist design. Or, looking at his décor in another light, Modernist clichés. Can you identify them all?

Asterios Polyp is David Mazzucchelli’s first solo graphic novel; he is known for work such as Batman: Year One and the acclaimed adaptation of Paul Auster’s City of Glass. A professor recommended Asterios Polyp to me; in turn, I recommend it to you! The story, the art, the page layout are all exquisitely designed, befitting a work about a professor of architecture.

Polyp is the proud owner of the Eames Plywood Lounge Chair, Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Chair, Marcel Breuer’s Wassily or B3 Chair, not to mention a sofa by Le Corbusier, Eileen Gray’s E1027 side table, George Nelson’s Slat or Platform Bench, Isamu Noguchi's Prismatic Table, and what I think looks like Jean Prové’s Em Table beside the Eames. (If anyone can identify the central coffee table or anything else I may have missed, let me know!) And, when Hana brings in her reproduction Noguchi table, we learn that Asterios Polyp only owns genuine pieces.

The chairs were all created by furniture designers who were also architects: good design is organically integrated into all aspects of life, great and small. (Although “organic” is a funny word to use given the general perception of modernist design being rendered in glass, concrete and metal.) Polyp’s furniture choices display not only his commitment to design, but also his rigid arrogance. Yet, significantly, Mazzucchelli opens Asterios Polyp by giving us our first glimpse of Polyp’s apartment when it is in utter disarray and Polyp is in the nadir of his life: divorced, in debt, filthy and watching filth.

A chance lightning strike drives him out of his apartment, and his prized collection of furniture goes up in flames.

It is tempting to read this incident as a straightforward destruction of Polyp’s old life and the ideals symbolized by the chairs; however, I think the details resist such an interpretation. Hana’s tansu and Noguchi table also burn. Also, while Polyp is a professor of architecture and has won awards for his design, he is a “paper architect” – none of his designs have ever been built, unlike the icons of Modernist architecture whose furniture peoples his apartment.

But enough of my preliminary thoughts. I encourage you to go forth and read, or better, buy and read, Asterios Polyp and decide for yourself how the furniture builds meaning in the graphic novel!

The Campana's Masterpiece

At 120 Ossignton Avenue sits One Twenty Modern, a beautiful showroom that represents top quality designers and brands. They have some gorgeous and interesting pieces that I admired for the unique construction and materials.

This is the Vermelha Rope Armchair in red. It is created using 500 meters of cotton rope and the intention is to make it appear randomly looped, but there is a structural method to the madness. It sits on an epoxy powder coated steel frame and has aluminum feet.

The style was imagined by Brazilian brothers Fernando and Humberto Campana in 1993. Although neither one intended to design, Fernando decided to try it after obtaining his architectural degree, and Humberto -who already had a law degree- wanted to join him, and their careers took off in the 1980's. They believe in the importance of using 'poor' materials and transforming them into something fantastical and 'opulent'. They certainly have done so with this piece. 

Pricey, but it's definitely a conversation starter!

It is a very cushy, yet supportive chair. I found a couple other designs of note and I can't wait to tell you all about them. Want to have a seat? One Twenty is accessible by taking the Ossington bus south from the subway station. Just ask the driver to let you off as close to the address as possible.

Antique French Bistro Chairs

Walking down Queen west, I stopped outside of Odds and Ends (a small antique shop) to take a look at a pair of slightly rusty but nevertheless charming old french bistro chairs. There were no identifying symbols or price (perhaps a best offer situation). I took a real shine to them. They would be perfect for a balcony or porch in the summertime.

The chairs looked the equivalent to the traditional import from France, European steel coated by enamel. They folded easily despite the weathered condition, were very light and easily transportable.

Odds and Ends is at 703 Queen Street West. The chairs may or may not still be there, but either way, it's worth a try. Thanks to Shelley for the photos.

Neil Diamond and the Deaf Chair

This post will be neither a discussion of chair history nor specific chair design, nor even a chair sighting. Instead, we shall tackle the essence of the chair. The unbearable chairness of being, if you will. (Am I always this lame? Answer: Yes.) Take it away, Neil!

I am, I said
To no one there
And no one heard at all
Not even the chair
I am, I cried
I am, said I
And I am lost, and I can't even say why
Leavin' me lonely still

- Neil Diamond, “I Am… I Said”

I first came across the lyrics of Neil Diamond’s 1971 hit song “I Am… I Said” in humour writer Dave Barry’s Book of Bad Songs. “‘And no one heard at all / Not even the chair’ – not even the chair?!” I was reduced to giggles at the thought of the chair deliberately refusing to listen. Being an ignorant and incredulous child, it took my mother some persuading to convince me that a) Neil Diamond is not only a real singer, but a famous one and b) this song was a hit, and a critically acclaimed Grammy-nominated one at that. I was duly chastised.

Diamond sings about being torn between New York City and LA; Rolling Stone calls “I Am… I Said” an “existential anthem.” Sasha Frere-Jones of The New Yorker comments that Diamond’s song writing is “like the pleas of a love-struck man from another place—perhaps a small Eastern European city—who has an unusual gift for melody but who grew up not speaking English.” The infamous chair line is singled out: Frere-Jones diplomatically calls it “a typically opaque lyric.”

Oh, cruel chair! Are you, too, deaf to my pain? The design of a chair typically fits a single individual – providing relief and support to even a stricken and solitary person. To have a chair shun you is truly rejection and loneliness. Diamond appeals to no specific incarnation of chairness, but rather, to the abstract chair, the Platonic chair, the chair that is the very essence of chairness.

Ontological profundities! Diamond is asking questions that probe the anlage of being. What is the nature of the self? What is the nature of the self when one asserts one’s own being? What is the nature of the self when one asserts one’s own being if the world and the quintessence of the chair turn their backs upon you?

And one final question:

If a Neil Diamond cries “I am” and no one hears him, not even the chair, does he still make a noise?

(Answer: Hey, I guess that’s why we have a song.)

A Lou Lou for Lou-Lou

My daughter Emmylou is a constant companion on my chair expeditions. She patiently waits as I ooh and ah and sit, rearrange and sit again. I want her to appreciate good design sense, so you can imagine my delight when I was discovered a way to share it with her. While visiting Ella and Elliot, a furniture store for 'the modern baby', we-along with our friend and photographer for the day Shelley from chapped lips and all- found a chair with her name on it, literally.

The LouLou Ghost by Kartell is the baby version of the famous Louis Ghost by Philippe Starck. It is an exact replica of the larger version, in style, material (the indestructible polypropylene) and ergonomic support. 

It encourages little ones to recognize classic lines and shape. Lou certainly enjoyed her time in it:

At Ella and Elliot, you can order this chair in other colours. The price for the Ghost is very affordable at:

Kartell doesn't appeal to your child's taste? They also have the classic Panton Junior and rumour has it they may soon have the Barcelona Chair Mini. You can find Ella and Elliot at 188 Strachan Ave, right across from Trinity Bellwoods Park. Take the Queen streetcar and get off at Strachan. You can't miss it!

Chair-Spotting: Zadie Smith’s White Teeth

"It's very modern. It's so well designed you wouldn't want to breathe in it, no matter fart in it. There's these chairs, plastic but without legs, curved like an s; they seem to work by means of their own fold; and they fit together, about two hundred of them in ten rows; and they snake around you when you sit in them - soft yet supportive! Comfy! Modern!"

- Zadie Smith’s White Teeth

Greetings, chair connoisseurs and other appreciators of well-designed sundries! Does the description of this chair sound familiar? Oh, incidentally I am Christine and Becca has generously allowed me to guestblog.

Zadie Smith’s novel White Teeth is one of the bona fide critical and commercial successes published in the past decade; Smith explores several generations of families in England, many of whom are immigrants, with humour and grace. The above passage comes from the end of the novel: multiple plot threads intertwine at the much-hyped reveal of the scientific triumph known as FutureMouse. This modern chair emphasizes the modern paradigm signified by the FutureMouse, a mindset which exerts its pressures upon the different characters struggling to define their identities in the modern world. Modern modern modern. We can see the narrator slipping in snippets of humour amidst the admiration of the chair design: this modernity seems to defy human frailties – one mustn’t dare fart in its presence!

Have you figured out the name of the chair? Hint: the name of the chair is in the passage.

If you guessed Danish designer Vernor Panton’s iconic Stacking chair, otherwise known as the S chair, you would be correct!

This isn’t the S chair’s first appearance on this blog: in a previous edition of Chair-Spotting, Jody noted the ubiquity of Panton’s design at the Vancouver Olympics, and in a later post, Becca found the S chair in Design Within Reach (435 King Street).

I can’t help but wonder what other meanings Zadie Smith might be hinting at with Panton’s S chair. Are we to read the effortless autonomy of the chair’s design in contrast with the inextricably and painfully linked characters? Perhaps the mass manufacture of these chairs that are so easily stored and stacked belies the rich diversity of the characters and their complex and clashing ideologies.

On a more prosaic level, I muse over whether the S chairs at the FutureMouse reveal are the more expensive Classic S chairs with the lacquered surface, or the latest pure plastic S chair design that is cheaper and more easily produced.