a southern neighbor of an old classic
when I was in graduate school, learning about furniture design, one of my first projects was to do a rocking chair. rather than try to ‘re-invent the wheel’, I started from a reference point that I found from research was pretty basic in the world of rocker design: the boston rocker. it had been produced and re-produced ad nauseum since the late nineteenth century. I was looking to draw from the best aspects, I thought, like comfort – esoteric things, seat to back angle; seat to arm height; how well it rocked. The embellishments, the little design fru-frus that seemed oh-so victorian to me I wanted to avoid. I probably erred too much on the side of danish modern but, alas, my teacher was danish so that part was probably inevitable. the cherry iteration with a rush seat was circa 1995; the original design, walnut with a jute woven seat, was 1979.
cherry, rush; seat, 16″h x 22″w x 20″d and 42″ overall height
the original; walnut, jute, circa 1979
