PUFFY PLAID CHAIR

Project Brief: Design a piece of furniture for the class final using the traditional or modern upholstery techniques we learned during the semester.

In an upholstery studio my senior year, I learned the design history of wingback chairs, and I decided to use this as a departure point for my design. My favorite chair when I was younger was one of my parent’s plaid wing back chairs, and I wanted to incorporate the enclosing sides of a wingback into a reduced form. Lauren Klein (RISD TX 2018), collaborated with me and designed a “puffy plaid fabric.” The chair is formed from two intersecting bent laminations, which I reinforced with fiberglass, and then fully upholstered. Lauren wove the fabric with a double weave block structure, which made it a balanced woven that wouldn’t slip within itself. Lauren made 14 feet of fabric, and we worked together to cut and pattern it, which proved to be very challenging because of the seam slippage and fabric shortage. Reworking this chair, I would take out some of the foam and utilize a tighter woven fabric.