Garel Spindle Back Chair

Garel's back is built from a straight crest rail and the slim spindles that carry it. All the spindles are turned, and each shaft carries a single long lens shaped swelling. The swellings are not in line: on neighbouring spindles they are shifted to different heights, setting up a wave like rhythm across the back.

The crest rail is straight and slim and sits on the spindles like a drawn line. Because the ornament gathers entirely in the spindles, the crest and the stiles are left plain.

The seat is a closed wooden panel: it draws a square with generously rounded corners, gently convex edges and a slight narrowing towards the back. The chair has no seat rail and no apron; the legs socket straight into the underside of the seat and the back spindles into its top face. The legs are round in section, splay in four directions and taper towards the floor. Three members tie them in an H: one on each side face and a single rod across the middle. The side members are not plain rods but flat blades, pointed at the ends and widening at the centre; the medial rod is round and of constant diameter, and it meets the middle of the two side members rather than the legs. All three sit at the same level and unusually high, close to the upper third of the legs; their apparent rise in the photographs is perspective. There is no member on the front or back face. In the first photograph the chair is complete: the seat is in place and made of the same timber as the frame, only unpolished. The photographs show the unfinished natural version alongside the walnut stained one with a terracotta fabric upholstered seat.