Faye Toogood designs a chair for life

“It is a chair for wellbeing; for life, aging, breathing, for taking time for yourself – it is a sanctuary,” says designer Faye Toogood about The Peace Chair, her outdoor pine chair for Vaarnii. We speak to Toogood about materiality, primitive furniture and a local mindset.

“I would love people to think more about their relationship with materials, and the hierarchies of value. A huge part of my work has been focused on creating “wow” out of ubiquitous, simple, basic materials. Cardboard, paper, tape and tin. Who are we to say that gold is more precious than tin? I love the fact that the pine in The Peace Chair will continue to age, and evolve. We’ve left room for it to change as it ages, to silver, to crack. I think the chair will be more beautiful in ten years time than it is today. This acknowledging of ageing is really special, it is something that we usually turn away from. Over the years, I've got rid of lots of things. Precious design objects, collections I've obsessively amassed that one day leave me cold. Ultimately I’m most happy with my stones and bones and bits of paper. As an obsessive collector, objects have been a large part of my life since I was a child. The objects that I’m drawn to and retain often have some natural or sculptural quality about them. I’m fascinated by what makes you attached or attracted to an object, and as a designer this is something I’m always preoccupied by.”

“I am interested in early English folk and primitive furniture, for its naivety and honesty to materials. I like natural objects, like found stones, bones and shells picked up over time that remind me of landscapes and places. I grew up in Rutland, a rural part of England. It was very dull, bleak, wild. My dad was an ornithologist. We would do nothing but walk on weekends, bird watch, forage. Our house was filled with books about nature, walking and that had been a big part of my childhood before I moved to London as an adult. In my work, I frequently return to an appreciation of landscape through colour and texture, particularly those associated with the British countryside. I think the future will be about going back to our roots. It will be about localisation, with parts of the world returning to being known for certain materials, techniques and typologies. I also believe that we will require less.”