Not Another Armchair

Described by it’s New Zealander maker Clark Bardsley as an “anti-chair”, ‘Arm’ is both incomplete and complete — it is a nonsensical seat that cannot be sat on.

Crafted from steam-bent American Oak, ‘Arm’ is designed as an outline of a chair — a Sack-Back Chair to be precise — as opposed to the chair itself. It is not to be sat on, but to be placed over another object — “from a plastic patio chair, to an office chair or even a bucket”, Bardsley states — to create a completely new seat.

To create ‘Arm’ Bardsley worked with a specialist wood-bender in his local city, Auckland. The simplicity of the curved form required meticulous method and practice. To achieve the desired effect, oak was cut into strips, steamed, and glue-laminated into curved forms. These sections were then machine cut into rounds and buffed to a soft edge with a brushback sander.

All images © Clark Bardsley