1 10 3 http://www.artisansinscotland.shca.ed.ac.uk/files/original/5e69b9039b591409d0e062ef572dacf1.jpg a8e2401ce9e90e8dbabcc35c3259fa59 Exhibition Item Category Wood Image copyright Victoria and Albert Museum, London Item Location Orkney Museum Description This is a ‘hooded’ Orkney chair made of oak and oat-straw and sisal, with a drawer below the seat. The frame was made in David Kirkness’s workshop in Palace Street, Kirkwall and the chair back was made by crofting outworkers such as Robert and Lizzie Foubister of Tankerness, Orkney. Though of vernacular heritage, the Orkney chair was standardized by Kirkness to four advertised designs – the Hooded Chair; the Gentleman’s Chair; the Lady’s Chair and the Child’s Chair. They were made in white deal or pine which was stained either green or brown or in solid oak, which was fumed and oiled with brass and copper fixings and invisible castors. Rush seats were more expensive and the under seat drawers were also an optional and more expensive extra. The Orkney chair seen here is a refined development, using wood sourced in the mainland and shipped in from Aberdeen, of a local style of chair that was made in a variety of shapes and sizes from a diverse range of materials. These were fashioned at home, often using driftwood to compensate for the shortage of trees, with seats and backs made of straw or reeds or other naturally growing plants that are found on the low lying, salty and wind-swept islands. Several examples of these vernacular chairs, some of peculiar construction, along with recent versions, can be seen in the museum in Tankerness House in Kirkwall and in museums elsewhere on Orkney. The V&A also features the Kirkness-made Orkney chair in its recently re-designed furniture galleries. They are still made today using the same hand techniques in a range of classic and modern designs. The straw-based handcrafts that are also distinctive to the Orkneys and give the chair much of its aesthetic and feminine appeal are another area of modern production. Orkney plaited or woven straw was made by ordinary people in their homes throughout the islands to be used for many purposes, including mattresses for beds and baskets. The latter, known as ‘cubbies’, were fashioned in numerous sizes and structures, of varying degrees of strength, for use on farms and in fishing. Straw could also be made into strong ropes for tethering animals, tying boats or fences and for straw-roof thatching. There was a commercially organized fine plaited straw sector in the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, using mainly female workers directed at home or in workshops in and around Kirkwall by local merchants to supply the fashion industry in London, where there was a demand for simple straw bonnets. David Munro Kirkness (1855–1936) was born in Westray and served an apprenticeship with Kirkwall joiner John P. Peace. He and his brother William set up as joiners and undertakers in 1880. His first order for straw-backed chairs came from Miss Maud Balfour of Berstane House to be delivered to Lady Sinclair, Bara House, Caithness. His order books are dominated by elite female customers and he regularly supplied his stock to the Scottish Home Industries Association for sale in Edinburgh and London and to Liberty & Co of Regent Street, London. He exhibited at the Edinburgh International Exhibition of Science, Art and Industry in 1890 which generated orders that took years to fulfill. The chairs found favour in Arts & Crafts circles. Sir Robert Lorimer and his sister purchased two for the family home, Kellie Castle, Fife, in 1893. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Orkney Chair, ca. 1890 Arts and Crafts Caithness chair crofting Edinburgh Fife Kirkness Kirkwall London Lorimer Orkney pine straw http://www.artisansinscotland.shca.ed.ac.uk/files/original/4c71f0210b5d2f85d8277e68f7eb89c9.jpg c70229954c198cec4c9f4658006d9da1 Exhibition Item Category Wood Image copyright Newsquest (Herald and Times) Item Location The Herald Newspaper Archive Description This photograph of a perilously overloaded basket hawker’s cart, was taken in Argyll. The items displayed include wicker chairs for adults and children; baskets, brooms and laundry baskets; wicker tables, framed mirrors and umbrella stands; doormats and cane carpet beaters. Traveller communities in the Scottish borders and highlands were frequently associated with simple crafts such as horn spoon making or basket and brush making and mending. Cane and wickerwork furniture was particularly popular at the turn of the twentieth century. The source of these wares is unknown but may have included several institutions for the blind in Scotland that produced cane and basket work from the 1860s. There is a rich tradition of local basket making in Scotland, using the materials available naturally or through agriculture ranging from straw, grasses or willow. On Shetland, the ‘kishie’ is a basket used in general agricultural work, especially carrying peats and muck. The Orkney ‘cubbie’, which was a general purpose basket of various sizes, was made by the same craftsmen who made the backs for Orkney chairs, using a variety of materials including straw, heather or rope. They were sold by D. M. Kirkness of Kirkwall along with his high fashion Orkney chairs. On Skye a wickerwork basket or 'crealagh’ was made from woven willow and was used to carry wool. Fishing communities were particularly noted for their basket work, from creels for carrying to lobster pots for catching. In the late nineteenth century there were several attempts by local patrons or Home Industry Associations to generate commercial production of woven straw and wicker goods in the highland counties. Reliance on imported materials diminished competitiveness and impeded growth in this sector. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Basket Hawkers, Argyll, ca. 1900 baskets borders furniture Highlands Kirkness Kirkwall Orkney pottery Shetland Skye smiths straw http://www.artisansinscotland.shca.ed.ac.uk/files/original/05256bf4a27a7e08826cffcdaef21f56.jpg fc545bd80b7d531344c19733bc14bc65 Exhibition Item Category Wood Image copyright Orkney Islands Council Item Location Orkney Museum Description This is a photograph of Robert Foubister, a crofter, and his daughter making a straw backed Orkney Chair. They are pictured preparing oat straw into coils that are then stitched into the wooden frame. Foubister appears frequently in the D. M. Kirkness Orkney Chair order book for the 1890s alongside other chair backers including John Coupland of Kirkwall. A typical entry for 1891 was for two chairs, one mid sized and one small, both backed by Foubister, who was paid 5s and 3s6d respectively, as ordered by Miss Spead ‘while on a visit at Berstane House’, with the chairs and bills sent to Wm H. Longbottom, Cavendish Road, East the Park, Nottingham, who Miss Spead was about to marry. Miss Maud Balfour of Berstane House was one of the first to place an order with Kirkness. Foubister is a common name in Orkney. A fellow craftsman ca.1860 was Thomas Foubister, a taxidermist in Kirkwall, but most of that name were crofters and fishermen. Few trees grow on Orkney and the chair evolved for local home industry using drift wood and locally-grown straw. By the time this photograph was taken, the commercially made Orkney chair was made using imported wood, mostly shipped from Aberdeen. This portrait is the subject of a commercial postcard, which was published in the Kent’s Series and aimed at the tourist market. It is unusual for this genre of images that we know the names of the sitters, who are photographed in an artist’s studio, probably in Kirkwall, and not their usual place of work on a croft about six miles away. The photographer was Tom Kent, locally born in 1863 but trained in America. He contributed to magazines such as Country Life and sold postcard images of Orkney views and traditional life. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert Foubister and his daughter Lizzie, Orkney ca. 1920 chair Kirkness Kirkwall Orkney photographers postcard straw tourist industry wood