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A tradition of giant arches made of chairs that was popular in Victorian times is being revived to celebrate the best of British design.
An arch built from 120 wooden Ercol chairs was unveiled today in the garden of the Victoria and Albert Museum by designer Martino Gamper as part of the London Design Festival.
The 10-foot high installation was thought up by Henrietta Thompson, design and architecture editor of Wallpaper magazine, when researching the history of British chair-making.
Buckinghamshire was the centre of the European chair-making industry in the late 19th century and Ercol is one of the old High Wycombe chair-making firms.
Miss Thompson discovered that residents used their local product to create celebratory arches to mark visits by the Prince and Princess of Wales and Queen Victoria. Wallpaper magazine decided to commission a modern version and turned to Gamper, whose previous work involved making 100 chairs in 100 days from discarded chairs he found on London streets.
"I thought of Martino instantly because in my mind he was a chair man," Miss Thompson said. "And when I spoke to him about it, I was surprised that he instantly knew what a chair arch was. Everyone else thought I was mad." Gamper said he had first seen a picture of such an arch a decade ago and did research before forgetting all about it. "But when Henrietta mentioned it, I said, 'Yes, of course,' and I'm very happy with the result. It's the simplicity I like," he said.
"I really wanted to create a pure chair arch with no other elements. It would stand up by itself but it's screwed together to make it stronger. To put it up has been quite a struggle. It was raining cats and dogs on Tuesday." The Wallpaper Chair Arch installation is just one strange addition to the London landscape during the festival, which launches on Saturday.
There are 200 events including design talks, tours of the V&A and a giant chess game in Trafalgar Square.
The festival runs until 27 September at venues including the Design Museum, the Southbank Centre and the Royal College of Art.
