Tiffany Bussem Jorgensen, Wingback chair and footstool (Student Awards 2018)

The design process for my wingback chair was quite difficult and it took me a long time to start the drawings and considering the dimensions. To help with the design process I researched online looking for dimensions and styles that I wanted to consider. I also went to furniture stores to view chairs of similar styles up close to get a better perspective on the dimensions and proportions my chair might have. Since I was creating my chair from scratch, it was difficult to lock in measurements for one piece of the chair without being able to see how this would fit proportionally with other sections of the chair. For visual purposes I sketched a side view to a large scale on a large piece of plywood. This help enormously but I still didn’t have all the dimensions I needed. The most challenging part of the design process was the curvy wings which would require quite a large and costly piece of timber if cut as one whole piece. Instead I broke the wings down into smaller pieces which fitted onto a 45mm x 95mm piece of pine. Throughout the construction I did alter some of the measurements as my perspective on the proportions changed, also adding some in. This project was really a case of trial and error. Firstly, I started with the legs I brought recycled Queen Anne chair legs from second-handed shops and cleaned them up. Buying the legs was a much easier and cost effective way than trying to make my own which I wasn’t skilled in doing. Then I moved onto the wings cutting each piece out on the bandsaw and gluing and dowelling them together. The wings worked well and were strong considering the amount of joining and curves involved. Later on, I routed the wings to make them rounded, this also involved A LOT of sanding. The chair base and stool were a bit of a challenge with the angles and joining around the legs (this is where some measurements were altered) but once the base was glued and dowelled together it worked great and adding support beams made it stronger. After the back of the chair frame and top were cut, (not much of a challenge), I dowelled and glued the frame together including the wings. I cut plywood inserts for the unholstery using a jigsaw. I upholstered the chair myself, but before that sanded and painted the chair frame white, sanding the paint back a little to get a distressed look. Year 12, St Arnaud Secondary College, Victoria. Teacher: Karen Medlyn

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