Ode Birch Chairs by Jolyon Yates
2 September 2009
“Ode”
OK, I’m going to admit it. The whole reason I decided to write about the chairs of Jolyon Yates is because they’re wood, bent wood lamination, to be exact, and they’re unique. I like seeing people do things that just blow your mind. Certainly, this man is blowing mine!
Bent wood lamination is a medium I once dabbled in briefly, enough to have an idea of what is involved in the manufacture of furniture like this. Basically, what you’re doing is cutting wood into very thin strips so it will take a bend, then gluing it up and wrapping it around a specially made form while the glue dries. And if that sounds pretty simple, then I’ve failed completely in describing the process, because it actually takes an enormous effort to achieve something like the subject of today’s blog. Some of the “rules” of successful bent wood lamination are to not make too severe a bend, to mak
e sure the bend doesn’t have too tight a radius, and to give the bend some “relief” by not having it bend back on itself. All rules that Mr. Yates has flung to the ground and danced upon!
“Ode” is the name he chose for his birch chairs, and he goes on to define that term as “a lyrical poem that pays respect to that which inspires it.” Personally, I think I would have called them the “Holy Kamoly Chairs,” but I guess that’s more of a response that a description.
But, “Ode” works as a name for these chairs because, as Mr. Yates says on his website, “In a world of loveless volume manufacturing, ODE Chairs display soul by reflecting the care and honesty with which they have been conceived and crafted.” And indeed they do. Factories have a place—where would our modern world be with
out them—but must we always cut every corner, always manufacture on the cheap? Can no one create and manufacture an honest product? And with that, we’re back to where we started, looking at Mr. Yates furniture with our mouths hanging open.
All of the furniture he has made is bent wood lamination, but it looks as though it were sculpted from solid blocks of birch and then finished in the special satin lacquer he uses, the better to bring out the rich wood tone and provide maximum protection while maintaining a simple, natural finish.
On his site Mr. Yates speaks of an ode to the ocean, his Ocean Rocker, and an ode to Spring, his Leaf Stool, but, really, all of his output is an ode to that rarest of commodities in this manufacture-everything-in-China-on-the-cheap days; it is an ode to honest labor.
Joseph
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One Response to “Ode Birch Chairs by Jolyon Yates”
April 11th, 2010 at 7:44 AM
In this blog, as in all of my blogs, there are hyperlinks that will take the reader back to the manufacturer of the item in question. Simply left-click on any of the pictures in the blog, and you can go to Jolyon Yates’ website.