Orkney Chair, ca. 1890

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.