Seated Experimentation – The Chair Exhibition by Craft Victoria

Challenging perceptions of an everyday domestic object, Craft Victoria’s latest exhibition, The Chair, celebrates 24 unique chair designs by 31 Australian designers. Running from 10 September to 19 November, The Chair represents an imaginative collection of forms, materials and shapes that reconsiders how chairs are perceived and experienced.

Celebrating the many shapes and forms in which this most essential piece of furniture can appear, Craft Victoria has gathered 24 uniquely designed chairs by 31 of Australia’s most experimental designers, makers, craftspeople and engineers. Featuring designs from Anna Varendorff, Jess Humpston, Two Lines Studio, Bern Chandley, James Lemon and many more, the ambitious exhibition draws upon an everyday object that is intrinsically linked to gathering, connection and storytelling, which has inspired generations of designers.

“More than any other piece of furniture the chair has been subject to the wildest creative experimentations,” says Nicole Durling, Craft Victoria Executive Director.

“More than any other piece of furniture, the chair has been subject to the wildest creative experimentations,” says Nicole Durling, Craft Victoria Executive Director. “From the self-taught tinkering in their sheds, through to the most esteemed designers in the world,” the chair continues to induce the imagination for creators and buyers alike. Drawing on this inspirational and experimental potential, The Chair sees designs such as the Concentric Chair by Anna Varendorff – made of stainless steel and old bike wheels – and James Lemon’s design Zoe – an interpretation on the playground swing that uses bronze and a stainless-steel chain – create a futuristic vision.

Inspiring a myriad of potential forms and challenging traditional perceptions, “The Chair explores the significance of chairs as markers of design evolution and as objects embedded with meaning, expression, experimentation and utility,” says Eliza Tiernan, Craft Victoria Curatorial and Programs Manager. Harnessing the imagination to its fullest, The Throne of Eve by Michael Gittings evokes veritable garden of Eden through its colour and shape, while the Pankalangu Arm Chair by Trent Jansen for Broached Monsters by Broached Commissions – made of Tasmanian wallaby pelt, plywood, stainless steel, French leather and polyurethane foam – encompasses how the use of material can change the shape of chairs and the stories they tell.

Exploring materiality, the exhibition inspires a myriad of potential forms, challenging the traditional perception of what a chair should be.

Featuring 24 distinct designs by 31 Australian designers, The Chair exhibition by Craft Victoria offers guests a spectrum of chairs that challenge the ideas of what a chair is and what it could be. Running from 10 September to 19 November, The Chair elevates this most humble yet inspiring of objects and reminds viewers that the simplest piece of furniture can be the most evocative.