Ludwig Mlcek, NSW

Not So Ordinary
1600 w x 500 d x 1600mm h (aggregate size)

A large, three trunk ornamental dawn redwood had to be removed from my front yard in the 1980s. Salvaging all usable timber I had it cut into approx 300 x 200 flitches and put away for some 20 years.
As far as the construction technique is concerned, the standard procedure applies. After a series of sketches pieces get laminated together and shaping starts. Initially with a chainsaw, then with a variety of power woodcarvers and shapers and ending up with hand tools and rolls of sand paper. After applying stains and limings to achieve the desired effects, objects are finished with a few coats of Country Oil.

Concept
With my work, I want people to experience more than they actually see in front of them. For me, the function of the object is only the beginning, a kind of framework, but not the goal. The goal is to ‘elevate’ an ordinary piece of furniture out of its ‘non-persona’ functionality and create a strong, individual sculpture, and practical, in this case a chair. It stops being ‘a machine for sitting’ as Le Corbusier once called it.
It is a bit like trying to de-construct the tradition while finding a new design language with an individual style.
It makes no difference how well and beautifully traditional chairs are designed and made, people do not say ‘I feel like sitting on this one today’, like they do with my chairs.
For me the furniture making is an adventurous journey, a bit like wandering in the open space of dream and fantasy, the space that is framed only by the required function of the object.
I hope you will consider the set of three chairs as a single entry, I feel it is important to appreciate the different forms within the set.

Photos: Richard Walker