It all started when Liljevalch’s Art Gallery commissioned a chair for the café in a new building Wingårdhs was designing for them. Today, nearly two years later, that chair sees the light of day for the first time.

“We have used our Tattoo Stool as the point of departure for the process of developing the Tattoo Chair,” says Sara Helder, the Wingårdh designer who, together with Gert Wingårdh himself, is responsible for the design. “But the chair has been given a larger seat than the stool, as well as a sloped seat and rear legs that branch out toward the top, where they support a leather backrest.”

Tattoo Chair has a simple and straightforward look, its energetic back legs creating a frame across which is stretched a backrest of vegetable-tanned leather. The combination provides a comfortable and flexible support.

“Gert chose the oval form for the backrest,” says Helder, “and our team at Wingårdh worked together to get just the right angles to achieve the comfortable, functional, and durable piece of furniture we wanted to create.”

It is a stable seat that is both lightweight and stackable—a functional chair that works as well in public cafés as it does at home around the dining table.

“The look of the chair is going to be variable in terms of both the material of the backrest and the decorative flourishes,” says Helder. “Right now we’re working with carvings for the chair—the ‘tattoos’ that will adorn and further set this chair apart from others. We’re also working with a seat cushion.”

About Zanat:

Like the other products in the Tattoo series, the Tattoo Chair is built on genuine craftsmanship and a close collaboration between Wingårdhs and Zanat. It’s a family company that has been in business for four generations and become well known for its distinctive technique for carving wood. The collaboration with Wingårdh is part of a new investment intended to celebrate, preserve, and develop the company’s unique expertise. The investment is also intended to train more craftspeople and create more jobs in the local community. The chair’s finish, wood species, and coloring will be flexible, which means Zanat will be able to adapt the color, form, and price to their customers’ demands.

For more information or further questions, call Klara Grape at 010 - 788 11 19 or email klara.grape@wingardhs.se.