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DAVID HAIGFINE |
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The Signature Rocking Chair |
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This rocking chair can rightfully be described as a ‘design-classic’. It has been commissioned by a discerning clientele for nearly 20 years and has been sent from here in Cable Bay to 15 different countries of the world, including the U.S.A, the U.K, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland and Hong Kong . It has won design awards and been featured in press articles and magazines in New Zealand, Australia and in the U.S.A . In an article in the ‘Australian Wood Review’ magazine reviewing the 2008 Studio Furniture Awards, the show’s awards judge, Neil Erasmus, an internationally renowned furniture maker and educator, wrote the following: “it was satisfying to know that there are still those who know just how far they can push their advanced skills before they reach what I call the ‘98% tipping point’, that fine balancing point beyond which one’s work becomes irredeemably compromised through overworking….they know the precise moment when to back off and accept that it can’t get any better…..David Haig’s now famous Signature Rocking chair in sycamore demonstrates just this kind of control. Visually, it is imbued with the power to take one’s breath away, and a kind of therapeutic quality that calms and relaxes the senses with its mellifluous fluid curves…….” It was based on a pencil sketch one breakfast that gave me the relationship of a few sweeping curves that I’d been trying to bring together as a chair design for many months. The first chair then took me a further three months to create, and though I have modified and improved many of the details and construction processes since, the purity of the inter-connected curves of the original design have hardly been altered. It has proved to be not only stunning visually, but to work superbly well as a rocking chair. It has a subtle spring and flex in it and gives support for the back along its full length. All the chairs have been built here in Cable Bay by me and one assistant, and all the timber in them has been sourced from trees grown in New Zealand, and especially the Nelson region which grows European hardwood species like walnut, ash and sycamore exceptionally well. I season the timber myself, as the steam-bending process I use requires wood to have been air-dried rather than kiln-dried as happens with almost all regular commercial lumber. (See DVD for an in-depth look at what goes into the making of a walnut chair). For finishing, on darker woods like walnut I build up a fine deep lustre by using multiple coats of a hand-rubbed oil-varnish mix. On very light coloured woods though, to avoid the danger of yellowing, I use a hard very clear lacquer, rubbed back to a fine even sheen and then waxed, This maintains the pale creamy colour of a wood such as sycamore.
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PRICE:
Note: I can accept payment in U.S currency, but outside the U.S. I generally price in New Zealand dollars. Please note that GST is not charged for items exported from New Zealand.
In Walnut, Sycamore, or figured Ash (as available):
NZ$4950.00 plus GST.SPECIAL OFFER: in European beech:
NZ $3950.00 plus GST.To make the chair more affordable to a wider audience, I am offering the chair in a less expensive timber, but with no compromise in quality of construction or finish. European beech steam bends very well, has warm pale brown tones, and is very strong and resilient.
Using a plainer wood gives significant savings firstly because the timber is more easily obtained and secondly because selection for grain and pattern at every stage of the construction process is much more straightforward. All my rocking chairs though are built and finished to the same standards of excellence.
DELIVERY:
Packaging: Unless I can deliver or the client can collect, I build a full plywood crate for each chair, which assures its arrival in perfect condition. This costs $200.00
Freight: Freight rates are charged on a per item quote, always by air, which is the quickest and safest. For example to parts of the U.S. the cost may be around NZ $1800 which includes insurance.
Expect VAT to be charged in the UK, but note the New Zealand equivalent, GST has not been charged.TERMS:
A 10% deposit on the rocking chair price confirms the order, with the balance, if for export (including freight and packaging) due upon completion of the piece and prior to freighting. Within New Zealand final settlement of the balance is upon delivery.PAYMENT:
By Electronic/Telegraphic Transfer to my bank account in New Zealand. Details provided at the time of the order.
fine furniture - hand crafted rocking chairs by david haig
