Take a seat

[Gob]

Plymouth University agrees to spend £150,000 ($246,836.00 US) on seven chairs



Deputy Vice-Chancellor David Coslett David Coslett said the chairs were important for the university

Plymouth University has agreed to spend £150,000 on seven chairs for graduation ceremonies, it is understood.

The university's senior management team commissioned the handcrafted chairs by furniture designer Sir John Makepeace.

In an email seen by the BBC, the university's PR department warned this could cause reputational damage.

David Coslett, deputy vice chancellor, said the university hoped to pay for the chairs through "private donations and charitable foundations".

Mr Coslett said Plymouth University's annual graduation week attracted more than 25,000 students and guests and injected about £700,000 into the city's economy.

"The planned commissioning of new graduation furniture is the next stage in the development of our graduation ceremonies," he said.

[rubato]

Quite the artist.





Even better at his website. Not that expensive for original works of art.

http://www.johnmakepeacefurniture.com/j ... hairs.html

yrs,
rubato

[oldr_n_wsr]

A little pricey, but least those chairs will never wobble.



These are very nice chairs. Wish I had that talent.

[Big RR]

David Coslett, deputy vice chancellor, said the university hoped to pay for the chairs through "private donations and charitable foundations".

I would hope so; if I were paying tuition, I'd hate to think it was being used to buy 7 chairs at $35,000 each. Works of art or not, it's an unnecessary expense, although if they could raise the funds for it, fine.

[Lord Jim]

In an email seen by the BBC, the university's PR department warned this could cause reputational damage.

Ya think?


Deputy Vice-Chancellor David Coslett

I'm surprised that the guy who made the decision to buy these "chairs" was willing to be photographed next to one of them with his name being published and without his face being pixilated...

Aside from the fact that they are hideously ugly, they seem to have been designed with creating maximum discomfort in mind...

Perhaps Plymouth University has been having a problem with elderly Dons falling asleep at Commencement Ceremonies, and this was viewed as a solution to that problem...

A ninety year old narcoleptic who'd just chowed down on a handful of Ambien with a vodka chaser couldn't dose off in one of those monstrosities...

[Big RR]

From what I read on another site, these chairs were commissioned by the university which had substantial input into their design; I can't understand why anyone would want a chair like that--not comfortable and not attractive (the other chairs photographed above are at least attractive).

[rubato]

This is functional furniture so you have to ask where they are intended to be used to understand the design choices.

It was suggested that they were intended to be used on a stage of some kind. I would guess that they are low in order not to clutter up what is already in the background which might be already very detailed and 'busy', like some woodwork, painting(s), sculpture. This would also explain the very clean and simple design. Three legs are inherently stable, as older and wiser suggested, and simplify the lines further. The expanding legs add mass to what would otherwise be so light it would get bumped out of place at the slightest push. The also ground the chairs visually as they flow downwards and out so the look like they belong where they are.

We have a friend who makes custom furniture to order and he says that making a good chair which holds up to regular use is one of the highest arts for a woodworker. His dining chairs start at about $1,200 per (set of 6). A skilled furniture maker knows how to make chairs that 'work' with the human body so I'm certain that they are reasonably comfortable. A different friend has collected Stickley furniture since it was so disregarded it was left outdoors, often. If you get a chance to sit in an original Stickley chair you should do so. Even the plain looking all wooden chairs are proportioned so beautifully to the body that they are very comfortable. The arms are at exactly the right height so than when your forearms rest on them the weight is taken off your shoulders and you immediately relax.



As someone who donates a significant amount to a university and will do so as long as we can it would upset me if they only used the money for telescopes and mass spectrometers. I would be very happy if some of the budget was for art. Ars Longa Vita Brevis, after all. In fact, most of our donations have been directed to the art department.

Funny, how few people actually like art.

yrs,
rubato

[MajGenl.Meade]

...as reflected in album sales.

[Lord Jim]

Personally, I've always liked Art

[Joe Guy]

As someone who donates a significant amount to a university and will do so...

[Lord Jim]

Now there's a pie chart that's hard to dispute...

I guess the logical question would be, "Yeah, but how does the person who actually earned the money feel about it?"

[rubato]

...as reflected in album sales.

the Arts are doing ok.







yrs,
rubato

[Big RR]

I would be very happy if some of the budget was for art. Ars Longa Vita Brevis, after all.

I agree, but think how much more meaningful it might have been if they had gone to the university art department and allow done of the student's works to be built and used rather than paying all that money per chair. they could have done it for a fraction of the cost and acquired something that might well mean something to the university community and donors. Just as the theater arts department wouldn't hire professional actors to star in productions but choose to give their students a chance, so should the decorative arts.

[MajGenl.Meade]

something that might well mean something to the university community and donors

[Long Run]

[dales]

[rubato]

I would be very happy if some of the budget was for art. Ars Longa Vita Brevis, after all.

I agree, but think how much more meaningful it might have been if they had gone to the university art department and allow done of the student's works to be built and used rather than paying all that money per chair. they could have done it for a fraction of the cost and acquired something that might well mean something to the university community and donors. Just as the theater arts department wouldn't hire professional actors to star in productions but choose to give their students a chance, so should the decorative arts.

Perhaps, if such a choice existed. Furniture making is a craft that takes a long time to master and those who can both make and design to a high level are not common. It is unlikely that there was such a choice.

This is a sculpture called "The Wave" by Steve Farrell. He was a student at the college when it was made and installed on a hilltop as you approach the college. He didn't know that the shape had become the logo for the college. He came back to visit and saw that it was on the stationary, signage, shirts &c and was moved to tears.




Shakespeare Santa Cruz is an internationally recognized series of plays put on every summer at UCSC and they use students, faculty, local actors and pay some equity actors because the product is better that way. The point of making art is to try to make good art.


yrs,
rubato

[Sue U]

Maybe the greatest Art:

[MajGenl.Meade]

[Sue U]

That's some bad Art.