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This chair made its public
debut at the 2008 Philadelphia Fine Furniture Show where it received a
great deal of attention and sold straight off the booth floor.
The interest was not only for the chair’s sensual curves but that
it was extremely comfortable to sit on. Peter’s most
delicate chair to date, the “original” Kinshasa’s
seat is shaped by hand out of African mahogany and the rest of
the chair is worked up from rough Black walnut boards. Customers
can select to have a different combination of wood species to make up
their chair, or go with a single wood if so desired. In the
“original” Kinshasa chair the Black walnut front leg tenons
come through the seat and are wedged creating a pleasant detail against
the lighter African mahogany seat. The back is short but gives
just the right amount of support for the sitter’s lower lumbar
region. The Kinshasa chair is the narrowest chair Peter has
built, being only 16 inches across the front where his other chairs run
between 18 and 22 inches. This chair can also be built at an 18
inch width without diluting its beautiful proportions. Though it
was not designed with this in mind, the crest creates a perfect
handle to move this light chair from the side of any room into a new
location when extra guests arrive.
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The Kinshasa chair is named after
the capital of the Congo where Peter lived for a couple of years during
the Congo Crisis of the early to mid 1960s. Peter’s family was finally
flown out of the country with the rebel and government troops fighting
within ear shot of the capital. They left just before the American
Consulate Building in Leopoldville was stormed and the rebels captured
some of his father’s colleagues. Apart from history being made around
him, Peter remembers colors, shapes and smells from that time living
submerged in a vibrant African culture.
He is reminded of the flavor of this
early experience every time he looks at the Congolese coffee table he
has in his living room in Cornville, Maine. The intricate, hand carved
woven pattern around its top edge an indication of the craftsmanship
that went into the piece. The Kinshasa chair’s design also gives the
viewer a feel of central Africa. Much like the coffee table all the
parts of this chair are shaped by hand before, and blended together
after, it is assembled. The design of this chair is unique and
exotic. The Kinshasa chair is one of Peter’s strongest designs to date.
Cost $1,600 |
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