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 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 ...

s, cafe chairs, and other light furniture. The iconic

No. 14 chair The No. 14 chair is the most famous chair made by the Thonet chair company. Also known as the 'bistro chair', it was designed by Michael Thonet and introduced in 1859, becoming the world's first mass-produced item of furniture. It is made using ...

Thonet Thonet is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Anne Bonnet, née Thonet (1908–1960), Belgian painter * Michael Thonet (1796–1871), German–Austrian cabinet maker ** Gebrüder Thonet Gebrüder Thonet or the Thonet Brothers w ...

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. Tsimshian box (UBC-2009)

Bentwood boxes are a traditional item made by the

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

people of the North American west coast including the

Haida Haida may refer to: Places * Haida, an old name for Nový Bor * Haida Gwaii, meaning "Islands of the People", formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands * Haida Islands, a different archipelago near Bella Bella, British Columbia Ships * , a 1 ...

Gitxsan Gitxsan (also spelled Gitksan) are an Indigenous people in Canada whose home territory comprises most of the area known as the Skeena Country in English (: means "people of" and : means "the River of Mist"). Gitksan territory encompasses approxi ...

Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),

Tsimshian The Tsimshian (; tsi, Ts’msyan or Tsm'syen) are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia in Terrace, British Columbia, Terr ...

Sugpiaq The Alutiiq people (pronounced in English; from Promyshlenniki Russian Алеутъ, "Aleut"; plural often "Alutiit"), also called by their ancestral name ( or ; plural often "Sugpiat"), as well as Pacific Eskimo or Pacific Yupik, are a sout ...

Unangax The Aleuts ( ; russian: Алеуты, Aleuty) are the Alaska Natives, indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, which are located between the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Both the Aleut people and the islands are pol ...

Yup'ik The Yup'ik or Yupiaq (sg & pl) and Yupiit or Yupiat (pl), also Central Alaskan Yup'ik, Central Yup'ik, Alaskan Yup'ik ( own name ''Yup'ik'' sg ''Yupiik'' dual ''Yupiit'' pl; russian: Юпики центральной Аляски), are an I ...

, Inupiaq and

Coast Salish The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the Coas ...

. 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 and included storage of food goods, clothing and for burial. They were often without decoration while others were decorated elaborately. Today many are made for collectors and can be purchased from museums, gift shops and online sites as well as directly commissioned from the artists. The Aleut or Unangan People of Alaska made hunting visors, called ''chagudax'', out of driftwood using the bentwood method. The visors were used by hunters who were in kayaks. They are said to help keep the sea spray off the face as well as improve hearing. They were often decorated with paints, beads, sea lion whiskers and ivory figurines.

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 ...

is credited with reviving the art of chagudax carving in the 1980s. Present day Unangan artists create chagudax for ceremonial purposes and offer them for sale to the public as well.

References

External links

AllWoodwork.com – Methods of Bending WoodFineWoodWorking.com – Skills and TechniquesTaylor's Classics – The History and Popularity of Bentwood Furniture
* ttp://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Rx_For_Bending_Wood.html Woodweb.com – Rx For Bending Wood: Dr. Gene Wengert offers advice on bending solid lumber in production applications {{Decorative arts Decorative arts Woodworking

See also

References

External links