furniture making

Winter Projects (and well beyond) – Pushing the Boundaries of Graggsylvania

Sorry, I accidentally posted this headline last week with no content.  Here is the content.

I find everything about the Gragg Chair to be compelling, from its aesthetic sinuous elegance and innovative form to the engineering brilliance and the craft challenge itself.  But, could the same form and concepts be taken to different places?  What else could be accomplished in the territory of Graggsylvania?

I intend to find out.

I am not the first person to ponder an exploration down this path, beginning with Samuel Gragg himself, who constructed this unsuccessful (to me eye, at least) settee. I fully intend to make a four-unit settee employing the fully steam bent structural integers rather that the partial one he employed.  Actually, that might be a post-winter project as I would have to do it on the unheated fourth floor which I promise you is not someplace to be desired as a workspace once the chills set in, although that might just work for steam bending the parts.  If I can clear space in my heated studio, however…

And how about a Gragg Rocker?  I’ve mocked one up and have bent the rockers for it, now it only takes time and energy.

What’s next, Gragg porch chairs?  Gragg footstools?  Gragg plant stands?  Gragg child’s chair (now that is really intriguing)?  The options boggle the mind and fuel the imagination.