Regardless of the style an individual chooses for the decoration of their home, one of the wonderful attributes of the chair is that it never loses its potential to be a form of functional art - a one-off sculpture we use to prop ourselves at the front door when tying our shoes, to greet our guests when they visit our office, or curl up in at home to read a book or take a nap. A chair can stand alone in an entryway or be placed in the middle of a room.
The Hill House chair, designed in 1902 by the architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, was meant to be a decorative object, not a regularly used item of furniture. Its design can be traced to influences from the arts and crafts movement, although this ladderback chair came at a time when the art nouveau style was in full force across Europe. The tall and slender, black-stained, ashwood frame is a timeless and delicate figure content in a traditional or modern interior.
A Hill House chair has a place of prominence adjacent to the front door in my apartment, exhibited as it was designed to be shown, against a white backdrop that fully outlines its form and reflects its shadow.
A licensed reproduction of the Hill House chair is available from Cassina spa, through the Poltrona Frau Design Center, Al Sahel Towers, Tower A, Al Khalidiya, Corniche Road, Abu Dhabi (www.pdfdesigncenter.ae)
