This is our second online presentation in our ongoing series about specific materials, form, function, color and so forth, explores the dynamic of warp and weft when applied to the humble chair, often transforming it into something sculptural and simply not quite functional. The crossing and pull of threads, whether silk, rope, cotton, polyester or natural linen adds another dimension to these chairs; a pop of color, a sense of transparency or fragility, reflections about the environment and material, shadow and light.

The Alvi Silk Chair by Swedish designer Asa Karner of Alvi Design. Karner is interested in creating an environmentally friendly range of furniture by incorporating colorful silk threads crossed with the oak frame. It’s a beautiful balance between transparency and mass. Light and shadow add another dimension to this piece as well.

Tanya Aguiña is a Los Angeles based artist + designer. Her Teotitlan Chairs (1 & 2) were inspired by Oaxacan weaving traditions she discovered in the town of Teotitlan in Mexico. I love the black + white contrast, and the ghost-like impression of the white threads against the black frame.

Wanting to include some vintage pieces in the group, I came across this fantastic chair in a google search on vintage chairs that incorporated hand weaving techniques. It has the weighty feel of a loom and almost looks like some sort of weaving device. I had to include it. I’d love to know who the designer was….

**1960s American Studio Rope Chair, Unknown Designer**

Anton Alvarez is a Swedish-Chilean designer who currently lives in Stockholm. The obsessive wrapping technique that Alvarez created for his thesis project at the Royal College of Arts creates and builds furniture and objects through binding the components with hundreds of meters of threads and glue. This short video shows the process and is worth a visit. Photo by Paul Plews and courtesy of Anton Alvarez.

Israeli designer, Rami Tareef started COD, or Craft Oriented Design, as a way to explore the relationship between craft + design and between the handmade and mass-produced. Tareef wanted to see how the two fields might work together, to test the limits and engage new possibilities.

**Craft on Design Chair by Rami Tareef**

I had a hard time finding information about Allan Gould (1908-1988), but he was also a painter and did several murals under the New Deal Act as well as being an interior designer and furniture maker. He lived and worked in New York. This chair was produced in natural rope as well.

**1950s String Chair by American designer, Allan Gould**