Entering the Victoria and Albert Museum I walked into the John Madejski garden expecting to see the towering chair arch by Wallpaper magazine. From a distance I thought I’d got what I was looking for, but atlas it turned out to be a toddler under the arch, and perspective playing tricks.
Its unfortunate, the arch itself is visually pleasing, but set against the architecture and scale of the v&a, its is underwhelming. Its a shame that a designer can get scale so wrong, often an offshoot of designing solely on computers, or perhaps in this case limitations in budget.
The original arch which inspired this miniature attempt was created in High Wycombe in 1877 to mark the visit of Queen Victoria, from an era when arches where used to celebrate special occasions.
The original antique arch being grander in scale, and more ad-hoc in finish and nature, with the largest chair arch containing 400 chairs, this latest version around 80. Over 100 years later, and 1/4 of the scale, progress.
Text: Ian Atkins
Image: Duncan Riches @ Alex Hellum’s studio