Rich’s interest in exploring and proximity to Australia’s red centre speak to her inspiration as it relates to Stories In Form. She cites people who can read the landscape, and the layers of recent and ancient stories in the landscape as it is revealed, alongside unique adaptations of flora and fauna, and other designers that capture everyday magic in their work. 

This inspiration is evident in her work for Stories In Form, the Decennia Chair (2011). Rich has worked with Oscar Prieckaerts to recondition old chairs, and has then applied numerous layers of variously coloured lime paint. Over the years, the paint wears away in response to the contact of the user, unevenly exposing the various layers of colour underneath the white top coat — much like nature wears away at the landscape to uncover history’s stories hidden underneath. What you’re left with is a very unique and personalised response to your body shape, movements and positioning, which constantly evolves as a pattern of colourful whirls — an almost magical addition to the stark monotone of the initial product.

Rich’s design philosophy is to ‘find instances of magic in the everyday and share it through an object’, which is represented beautifully through the wistful patterns on her older chairs. The Decennia Chair accesses the Stories In Form frameworks through Interaction, History and Manufacture.

The interaction with the Decennia Chair creates a unique and individual product, constantly evolving, while the chair’s previous life, as well as the fact that it wears every impression you leave upon it, speak to the history of the product. Similarly, the chair’s previous life, this time combined with the arduous process of applying coat after coat of lime paint, lead into a story about the manufacture. Rich also notes that the manufacture would not have been possible with the help of Prieckaerts, someone she has collaborated with many times over the last decade. A fantastically skilled craftsperson with an eye for detail, Rich asserts the project could not have happened without his assistance.

You can find out more about the four frameworks employed in Stories In Form by reading the introduction by curator Jacqueline Power here.

The Decennia Chair (2011) is on display at Object Gallery from 27 January — 24 March 2012. To find out more about Stories In Form click here, and to find our more about Elliat Rich, visit her website.