design et al are delighted to announce that Tom Faulkner have been shortlisted for Chair Award in The Product Design Categories within The International Design and Architecture Awards 2017
Berlin is a contemporary easy chair made of leather and steel. Designed by Tom Faulkner, to be simple, elegant, and comfortable.
Made of leather and steel, the Berlin chair is a collaboration of ancient and modern British craftsmanship. The leather seat and steel frame have been worked by hand and machine respectively, to create an innovative and distinctive piece of modern day design. The silhouette is a kind of “triskelion” design – strong, simple and dynamic. The frame is water cut out of 12mm steel plate, and the leather has been tanned using the almost medieval technique of oak bark tanning. There are very few tanneries left in the UK that can do this. It is a 14-month treatment, without the use of chemicals. The leather is hand finished and hand stitched with Irish linen, providing wonderful detailing.
“I wanted to make something very simple with a very distinctive silhouette, and I wanted to use the leather in an almost structural way. I love that there is so much ‘craft’ in this seemingly simple chair”
– Tom Faulkner, Berlin Chair
The design of the Berlin chair works well due to its strong, simple, and distinctive design. The water cut frame has been bolted together with discreet fixings. The feet are a delicate feature and have been welded and shaped by hand. The leather is meticulously hand stitched using Irish linen, passed through beeswax for strength and longevity. There are over 1000 stitches in each chair.