Reclining Voltaire Chair

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
 In the forests of the night; 
What immortal hand or eye, 
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

The first verse from William Blake’s poem “The Tyger”, this was one of my grandmothers favourite poems and I find myself saying it in my head when I look at this amazing fabric by Emma Shipley.

I want my upholstery to last for another generation, and this starts with the frame of the chair. If that isn’t strong then it doesn’t matter how good or how pretty the upholstery then it will eventually fall apart. This Voltaire chair is a recliner - or in French a “Voltaire à Crémaillère”. It’s over 100 years old and the arm joints had become weakened over the years of constant use, it would have been easy to just ignore the slightly loose joints, but sooner or later they would have come apart. I’m lucky that my partner Ade is really talented and is able to make some of these more complex repairs for me.

After he made the repairs to the arm joints, the seat was completely reupholstered using traditional methods. The back just needed a light touch and then the whole chair was covered with the fabulous Tigris fabric and finally it was finished using decorative nails.

“He who rides a tiger is afraid to dismount.” – Chinese proverb