I was doing some scouting on Toronto’s Rosedale decor strip Tuesday when I happened upon the Seatbelt Chair at the fabulous L’Atelier (1224 Yonge Street, 416.966.0200). All staff could tell me was that the chair comes to them from Montreal and is also available in red, black and white. Imagine a seating group with one of each colour? You’d make the cover of Dwell for sure!
I did some digging and discovered that the Seatbelt Chair is actually part of the Phillips Collection out of Highpoint, North Carolina. The chair was created by Thai designer, Nuttapong Charoenkitivarakorn, who is known professionally by his first name for obvious reasons.
The Seatbelt Chair is part of a larger collection of work, entitled, “The Sculpture” (2005). The series includes benches, dining chairs, lounge chairs and ottomans all handmade in Thailand . . .
The Seatbelt Chair is constructed with scrap material from a local manufacturer. A steel and wood frame is wrapped in the cotton “seatbelts” in a criss-cross pattern; the back of the chair is braided all the way to the base to suggest a fishtail. The straps have a different colour on each side of the fabric, which is what creates the striking contrast of color as the material twists.
L’Atelier’s Seatbelt dining chairs retail for $1,049 but right now everything in the store is 20 per cent off until August 31.
August 27th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Absolutely wild! What a find and what an eye….keep bringing us the wacky and the wonderful.