Sincerely, Douglas
Year : 2021
Made from reclaimed lumber used as construction material for an architectural building in Chicago, this seating object reflects the tree’s story. How much effort do we put into sitting on a wooden chair? How much interest and respect do we have for the material and its history?
RECLAIMED LUMBER
is lumber that has been salvaged or repurposed in one way or another, often coming from vintage buildings or structures. The history of this tree becoming artificial lumber dates to the mid-late 19th century when the Midwest United States was going through a mass deforestation process due to the increase in consumption of wooden materials. Considerations towards sustainability, ecology, and working environment were lacking in the industrializing era, producing large acres of cutovers, or abandoned ghost landscapes of cutdown trees. This Douglas fir board came from an age when forests in Michigan and Wisconsin were decreasing by irresponsible human activity.
Considering this context,
my goal was to create an object that tells the story of how sitting in a wooden chair is far from ordinary in everyday life. Every object, material, and experience has its own individual context and narrative. While traditional seating objects are designed to provide stability, allowing the person sitting to place their full weight without collapsing, I saw this as an illustration of one-way communication between humans and trees.
The Design
If you don’t support me,
I won’t support you.
Sincerely,
Douglas Fir
of this seating object is specifically intended to be unstable, requiring the effort of the person sitting to support and cooperate with the object for a balanced sitting experience.