Friday, 1 May 2015

Unit X: Whitworth Limited Editions; Upcycling furniture


I rescued this chair, I am passionate about recycling and upcycling unwanted furniture.  I wanted to work with this chair because the wood was undamaged and good quality. This reflects my ethics and beliefs that usable furniture can be repurposed and used.

I sanded the chair down to strip the gloss paintwork that was already on the chair.  I then had to put an undercoat on to mask the dark wood colour from underneath. This is so that the top coat colour is not affected. The lilac matched the repeat pattern design of the fabric.  The lilac is a very small colour within the repeat design that has been amplified to contrast against the white background of the chair fabric. The white fabric was at the client’s request.  I used artistic discretion to synthesise the lilac and white for the client.  The client was happy with the end result.

 
The client had already had a preconceived image of the final product, but this project enabled me to design for the client and to surprise them with my design.
I learned specialist techniques in this project. I learned that small strokes of undercoat impacted the quality of the finish so as I progressed I refined this technique.  The final paint layer was with a roller to keep the top coat as smooth as possible and also to keep it evenly coloured.
I feel upcycling furniture allows the history of the object to be given a new lease of life to make this new and creative. This chair also reflects element of my personal narrative. I feel I am giving the chair a new life to be seen again. 
 
 
 
The finished product, received both positive and negative feedback. The repetitive nature of the pattern is traceable.  It has helped me develop my knowledge if the repeat pattern process. I feel that this may not fully represent the needs of the Whitworth gallery, but also some of the positive comments have been in response to the timely nature of project completion and the end quality of the product.
 

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