THE AMERICAN CLASSROOM CHAIR #17



The remaking of these chairs came about as the result of a spontaneous rummaging through the dumpster of Grattan Elementary School in my neighborhood of Cole Valley.  The old wooden laminations for the seat and back support were completely deteriorated, and the metal frames were bent out of shape.  Noticing the sleek vintage style of these presumably 1950's era classroom chairs, I took it upon myself to repair and partially redesign them into an elegant dining-room chair.  I built two separate molds in order to re-laminate the seat and back support, and then used clamps to bend the frame back to it's normal orientation.   The frame was spray painted with a matte black and the laminations were both oiled with "California Oil Finish" (a recipe inherited from Art Carpenter), with the exception that one of the chairs was painted in cerulean blue before being oiled.