1 10 3 https://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 https://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 https://www.artisansinscotland.shca.ed.ac.uk/files/original/1b922adb3bb926696d5629675f84d9e9.jpg 062b9aa52d7fa79f096b01938b0c29da Exhibition Item Title William Trotter Chair Category Wood Description This carved mahogany hall chair with intricate rope and anchor design, was made by William Trotter for Trinity House, Edinburgh in 1816. It is one of a set of six, and is in a typical ‘hall chair’ design, with an elaborate armorial back and solid seat suitable for an entrance hall where users were likely to be seated for a short time and wearing wet outer garments. The chairs feature the Trinity House emblem, ‘PERVIA VIRTUTI SYDERA TERRA MARE’ (‘The earth, the sea and the stars are conquerable by men of courage.’) Trinity House is the home of the trade regulation body known as the Incorporation of Ship Owners and Shipmasters. The building, in Leith, built in 1816 to designs by Thomas Brown, is on the site of the former Trinity House, which dates back to the sixteenth century. The chairs were designed for the new building and Trotter was paid £15 15s in 1817 for the commission. William Trotter (1772-1833) was Scotland’s most celebrated early nineteenth century cabinetmaker. His family were long established in trade in Edinburgh and he was a significant figure in the Merchant Company, where he was Master in 1819. He served as Dean of Guild on the Edinburgh Town Council and Lord Provost. He operated through various partnerships before setting up a business in own right in 1805, with extensive showrooms at the east end of Princes Street. The Trinity House hall chair was made at the height of his success, when he was known for restrained neoclassical design. His commissions included other Edinburgh institutions, such as the Signet Library ca.1822 and domestic customers, such as local M.P. John Home Robertson for Paxton House, a country mansion in Berwickshire, as well as the numerous residents of Edinburgh’s quickly expanding New Town. Trotter’s vast output was elegant in design and used the best quality woods. The Trinity House architect, Thomas Brown (1781-1850) was Superintendent of the City Works in Edinburgh from 1819. He had a large local country house practice and through this and his connection with the council, would have known William Trotter well. It is possible that Brown designed the hall chairs, though a workshop such as Trotters would have employed many skilled craftsmen, some trained in design at the Trustees Drawing Academy. Trotter introduced London styles of furniture to Scotland, making use of pattern books such as those produced by Sheraton and Chippendale. He and other leading cabinetmakers sought to standardise prices and dimensions in the trade, publishing the Edinburgh Cabinet Makers’ Book of Prices from 1805. Trotter’s celebrated showroom was listed in tourist guides of the period as somewhere to visit when in Edinburgh. According to Thomas Dibden in his 1838 Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour it comprised ‘vistas filled with mahogany and rosewood objects of great temptation.’ Image copyright Crown Copyright reproduced courtesy of Historic Scotland Item Location Trinity House, Edinburgh 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 Hall Chair, William Trotter, 1816 architects cabinet maker chair design schools Edinburgh furniture London neoclassical tourist industry