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Bentwood
Bentwood objects are those made by wetting wood (either by soaking or by steaming), then bending it and letting it harden into curved shapes and patterns. In furniture making this method is often used in the production of rocking chairs, cafe chairs, and other light furniture. The iconic No. 14 chair by Thonet is a well-known design based on the technique. The process is in widespread use for making casual and informal furniture of all types, particularly seating and table forms. It is also a popular technique in the worldwide production of furniture with frames made of heavy cane, which is commonly imported into European and Western shops. Bentwood boxes are a traditional item made by the First Nations people of the North American west coast including the Haida, Gitxsan, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Sugpiaq, Unangax, Yup'ik, Inupiaq and Coast Salish. These boxes are generally made out of one piece of wood that is steamed and bent to form a box. Traditional uses of the boxes was varied ...
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Rocking Chair
A rocking chair or rocker is a type of chair with two curved bands (also known as rockers) attached to the bottom of the legs, connecting the legs on each side to each other. The rockers contact the floor at only two points, giving the occupant the ability to rock back and forth by shifting their weight or pushing lightly with their feet. Rocking chairs are most commonly made of wood. Some rocking chairs can fold. Etymology The word rocking chair comes from the verb ''to rock''. The first known use of the term ''rocking chair'' was in 1766. Purpose Rocking chairs are often seen as evocative of parenting, as the gentle rocking motion soothes infants and sends them off to sleep. Many adults find rocking chairs soothing because of the gentle motion. Gentle rocking motion has been shown to provide faster onset of sleep than remaining stationary, mimicking the process of a parent rocking a child to sleep. Rocking chairs are also comfortable because, when a user sits in one withou ...
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Shaker-style Pantry Box
The Shaker-style pantry box is a round bentwood box made by hand. Such boxes are "associated with Shaker folklife because they express the utility and uniformity valued in Shaker culture." Description The bentwood box was originally a working box for storage of dry items, but today used more as a decorative item. The Shakers originally used the boxes for storing kitchen ingredients and small items and parts for the shop. They stored easily, as a smaller one could be put inside an empty larger one as in a Matryoshka-style nest; many smaller boxes could be stored within the space of the largest box. The idea of buying a complete set of seven or eight graduated size boxes was a luxury that was out of the reach of most nineteenth-century households, as each size cost about a full day's pay and the larger ones even more. The boxes were attractive to many besides the Shakers and their "fancy work" was sold by the thousands. The boxes were made in various shapes and sizes, with thei ...
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Andrew Gronholdt
Andrew Gronholdt (26 August 1915 – 13 March 1998) was a famous Aleut from Sand Point, Alaska, in the Shumagin Islands south of the lower Alaska Peninsula and became famous for rejuvenating the ancient Unangan art of carving hunting hats called '' chagudax''. In January 2012, a book was published posthumously by Gronholdt titled "''Chagudax'': A Small Window into the Life of An Aleut Bentwood Hat Carver" Gronholdt's woodworking techniques, wood steaming and bending methods, and instructional design methodologies were legendary. Early life Andrew Gronholdt was born on August 26, 1915, in Sand Point on Popof Island in the Shumagin Islands. Gronholdt's father was Niels Peter Gronholdt from Kerteminde, Denmark. Gronholdt's mother is Anna Dushkin, who was from a tiny Aleut village on the southside of the Alaska Peninsula named Belkofski, about a dozen miles north east of King Cove, Alaska. The ancient Unangan people lived at Belkofski for thousands of years, but the community w ...
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Gebrüder Thonet
Gebrüder Thonet or the Thonet Brothers was a European furniture manufacturer. It continues as a German company (Thonet GmbH), Austrian (Thonet Vienna) and Czech (TON). History Gebrüder Thonet were particularly known for their manufacture of bentwood furniture, for which they had developed the first industrial-scale production processes. These replaced previous individual craft skills with an investment in machinery that allowed any worker to produce accurate and repeatable bent components. Although steam bending was long established for pieces such as the Windsor chair, these older pieces had used the bending of a raw billet that would then be shaped to size afterwards. Thonet's more precise process allowed timber to be machined with a surface finish as raw stock (usually as thick circular dowel), steam bent to shape, then used as a component almost immediately, without further machining other than to trim the ends. The company was founded by Michael Thonet in Vienna by trans ...
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Steam Bending
Steam bending is a woodworking technique where wood is exposed to steam to make it pliable. Heat and moisture from steam can soften wood fibres enough so they can be bent and stretched, and when cooled down they will hold their new shape. In modern times, steam bending is usually done with a steam box to make it bend around a former. The moulding process is typically done by clamping wooden strips to a positive form, with the strips of wood often reinforced on the outside with a metal band to prevent blowout. The method has been used in the manufacturing of a diverse range of products, including wooden boat building where it is used in the shaping of hull's ribs and lap boards, the production of traditional wooden lacrosse sticks, musical instruments such as the violin, the manufacture of wooden furniture such as the Windsor chair and much of Michael Thonet's and Alvar Aalto's work. Steam bending is a traditional process steeped in history. It was once a vital practice, paramoun ...
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Aleut People
The Aleuts ( ; russian: Алеуты, Aleuty) are the indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, which are located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Both the Aleut people and the islands are politically divided between the US state of Alaska and the Russian administrative division of Kamchatka Krai. Etymology In the Aleut language they are known by the endonyms Unangan (eastern dialect) and Unangas (western dialect), both of which mean "people". The Russian term "Aleut" was a general term used for both the native population of the Aleutian Islands and their neighbors to the east in the Kodiak Archipelago, who were also referred to as "Pacific Eskimos". Language Aleut people speak Unangam Tunuu, the Aleut language, as well as English and Russian in the United States and Russia respectively. An estimated 150 people in the United States and five people in Russia speak Aleut.
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Lucian Ercolani
Lucian Randolph Ercolani (8 May 1888 – 9 June 1976),Anita McConnell, ‘Ercolani, Lucian Randolph (1888–1976)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200accessed 17 Feb 2010/ref> was an Italian furniture designer born in St Angelo in Vado Marche Italy later emigrating to London, England with his family. He began his career in furniture manufacture with the Salvation Army joinery department, later joining Frederick Parker (later of Parker Knoll fame). In 1920, Ercolani had joined a furniture-making consortium in High Wycombe, trading as Furniture Industries. The business expanded through acquisition, and government orders during World War II for wooden tent pegs and bentwood chairs ensured its success. In the late-1940s, Ercolani developed his range of mass-produced Ercol furniture, which became a household name in post-war Britain, and which continues today. Early life Lucian Ercolani was born in St Angelo, Tuscany, Italy. His father, Abd ...
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Ercol
Ercol is the name of a British furniture manufacturer. The firm dates back to 1920, when it was established in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, as Furniture Industries by Lucian Ercolani (1888–1976). History Origins In 1944, Ercol was contracted by the government Board of Trade to produce 100,000 low-cost Windsor chairs – chairs with a bentwood frame and an arched back supporting delicate spindles. For the order to become commercial success, Ercol perfected the steam bending of wood in large quantities. The wood selected was English elm – a wood previously thought impossible to bend because it is distorted. Ercol's innovation meant the chair could be assembled from 14 pre-formed components, and mechanisation meant that a chair could be made every 20 seconds. In 1946, Ercol exhibited its bentwood furniture at the Britain Can Make It exhibition, held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. In 1947, the first production-line Windsor chair, and other pieces from the ra ...
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Unangan Hunting Headgear
Unangan hunting headgear are wooden hats associated with the Unangan (eastern dialect) ( Unangas, western dialect), the Indigenous peoples of what are currently known as the Aleutian Islands. Also known as bentwood hats, and hunting hats, the headgear take the form as either closed crown conical hats, with long frontal bills; open crown hats, with long bills; or visors with short bills.Ivanov, ''Aleut Hunting Headgear and Its Ornamentation'', 269. Closed crown conical hats were historically worn by chiefs, whalers, and high-ranking sea hunters, while open crown hats and visors were worn by regular and lower-rank sea hunters. These hats are recognized by their distinctive shape, elaborately painted designs and artistry, as well as their ornamentation with bone carvings and sea lion whiskers. Russian and European explorers collected many Unangan wooden hats in the late 18th and 19th century. These hats are now part of many museum collections around the world. Since the 1980s, conte ...
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Haida Heritage Centre
The Haida Heritage Centre is the premier cultural centre and museum of the Haida people. It is located in Skidegate, a community on Graham Island in Haida Gwaii off the Pacific coast of British Columbia, Canada. The centre is situated just south of the site of a historical village in Kay Llnagaay (pronounced ''kie-il-na-guy'', which means "Town of Sea Lions"). The Centre was built and is managed by Gwaalagaa Naay, an economic development branch of the Skidegate Band Council, the owners of the site. It is one of the major aboriginal cultural tourism attractions in Haida Gwaii and has been described as "a place for the Haida voice to be heard." Educational programs are offered in partnership with School District 50 Haida Gwaii, the University of Northern British Columbia, and with the Haida Gwaii Higher Education Society. The Centre includes an interpretive centre, temporary exhibit space, Performing House, Canoe house, Carving Shed, the Bill Reid Teaching Centre, Program Management ...
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Tsimshian Box (UBC-2009)
The Tsimshian (; tsi, Ts’msyan or Tsm'syen) are an Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia in Terrace and Prince Rupert, and Metlakatla, Alaska on Annette Island, the only reservation in Alaska. The Tsimshian estimate there are 45,000 Tsimshian people and approximately 10,000 members are federally registered in eight First Nations communities (including the ''Kitselas,'' ''Kitsumkalum,'' ''Gitxaala,'' ''Gitga'at'' at Hartley Bay, and ''Kitasoo'' at Klemtu) ''Lax Kw'Alaams,'' and ''Metlakatla, BC''. The latter two communities resulted in the colonial intersections of early settlers and consist of Tsimshian people belonging to the 'nine tribes.' The Tsimshian are one of the largest First Nations peoples in northwest British Columbia. Some Tsimshian migrated to the Annette Islands in Alaska, and today approximately 1,450 Alaska Tsimshian people are enrolled in the federally recognized Metlakatla Indian Communit ...
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Haida People
Haida (, hai, X̱aayda, , , ) are an indigenous group who have traditionally occupied , an archipelago just off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, for at least 12,500 years. The Haida are known for their craftsmanship, trading skills, and seamanship. They are thought to have frequently carried out raids and to have practised slavery. The Haida have been compared to the Vikings by Diamond Jenness, an early anthropologist at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. In Haida Gwaii, the Haida government consists of a matrix of national and regional hereditary, legislative, and executive bodies including the Hereditary Chiefs Council, the Council of the Haida Nation (CHN), Old Massett Village Council, Skidegate Band Council, and the Secretariat of the Haida Nation. The Kaigani Haida live north of the Canadian and US border which cuts through Dixon Entrance south of Prince of Wales Island ( tli, Taan) in Southeast Alaska, United States; Haida from K'iis Gwaii in the Duu Guusd regi ...
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