Melvi Wrapped Armchair

Melvi's top frame leaves one arm tip, travels round the back in a broad sweep and ends at the other arm tip. Because its section is kept thick, the frame reads not as a slim rail but as a heavy line that defines the body; its inner face is lightly hollowed and in the upholstered version the pad sits in that hollow.

The support beneath each arm drops from the frame to the seat rail on a raked line. That rake leaves an open triangle on each side between arm and seat; the chair's profile is built on those voids.

The legs are shaped in section and taper towards the floor; the front pair carry on past seat level to become the arm supports. There is no stretcher between the legs at any level: the member mistaken for one in profile is the side seat rail, its lower edge cut in a shallow arch, and both its ends die immediately beneath the seat rather than partway down the legs. In the bare frame photograph the seat opening still holds a raw blank: its surface is greyer and paler than the frame, mottled in fan like streaks, its edge fibrous and ragged. The photographs show the bare, unfinished and unupholstered frame alongside the walnut stained version with a burgundy fabric upholstered back and seat.