The Outdoorsman

PM: You tweak the design in three dimensions?

RS: We make a chair and sit on it, to make sure it’s comfortable, make sure it has the proper radiuses and can be put together and coated. We want to see if it’s a product. We’re going to have a few chairs made up for ICFF, though we’re likely to make changes in those chairs.

PM: Why do another outdoor chair when you’ve already designed the classic pieces?

RS: It’s a question of satisfying your creative interest. I wake up in the morning and have an idea for a chair. Whether we manufacture the thing or not has to do with a number of factors. This chair can’t be a one-of-a kind thing. The original concept should be capable of creating a vocabulary of forms that allow you to make more than one object.

PM: When I look at your outdoor furniture, like the Petal table, they seem inspired by nature.

RS: That’s true. Do you know what Queen Anne’s lace is? It’s a weed about three inches in diameter—but look underneath it. There’s a little stem that comes up, and each one supports a little floweret. That was partial inspiration for the Petal table.

PM: Is there a natural inspiration for the new chair?

RS: No. The Fresh Air chair is a sheet-metal chair. Traditionally, outdoor furniture is made with either wood or metal slats. Because the slat is not a functional part of the chair but an aesthetic one, I may do a version of this chair without them. Chairs are sculptures and have to work in space. Outdoor chairs either complement or supplement nature. The Adirondack is complementary. The Topiary chair is supplemental. In our catalog, there’s a picture at a restaurant in New Jersey where the owner put these chairs against an ivy-covered wall. They’re like shrubs. You can hardly see them. It’s terrific!

PM: How do you see the chair fitting into the landscape?

RS: It’s going to be in contrast to the landscape. Because it’s sort of traditional-looking, it picks up on what outdoor furniture has always looked like. It’s a dining chair. We haven’t done the lounge chair yet. That won’t be as radical, because when you tilt something like that it affects the appearance of the chair and may be hard to deal with sculpturally. I don’t know. It has to be sorted out. I am interested in comfortable chairs.

PM: Why does most of your work focus on outdoor furniture?

RS: I found that outdoor furniture could be more fanciful and interesting than office furniture. Who wants an office full of wiggly furniture? Designing office furniture is boring! Niels Diffrient doesn’t find it boring, but he designs differently. He’s more of an industrial designer.

PM: You’re not an industrial designer?

RS: I think the only term is furniture design. Historically, furniture wasn’t very functional. A dining chair had a decent seat and arm height, and it would fit under the edge of the table. If the chair was cute-looking enough, you could say, “Ah, it doesn’t work too well, but isn’t it nice-looking!” The Shakers are the only people who looked at these problems and solved them well, making some of the most exquisite furniture and interiors in the world. Their furniture is breathtakingly beautiful and simple. They had Mies’s “less is more” idea figured out way before Mies ever did.

PM:< Do you spend a lot of time outdoors?

RS: No. I like to have a meal outside and do a little hiking, but I’m not a big outdoorsman.

PM: That’s a bit ironic.

RS: I don’t think so. An outdoorsman would carry something like a folding stool or camp stool. Those guys aren’t interested in cute chairs. Do you know what a shooting stick is? It’s just a cane where the top opens up and you can sit on it—it’s something the British invented for watching horse races. Now that’s an outdoorsman’s chair.