Featured Artists and Lot Numbers

Please join us Thursday November 3 at 6:30 pm at the Gladstone Hotel for reDesign 2011 - the gala evening and silent auction in support of the Textile Museum of Canada. Please scroll down to preview featured silent auction items that will be available for bidding on the evening of the event. Purchase your tickets today!

To submit an absentee bid, simply fill out the bidding form and email it to fbutler@textilemuseum.ca or fax it to 416-599-2911. Please remember to include your maximum bid. Maximum bidding allows you to indicate the maximum amount you wish to bid for an auction lot. Your bid(s) will be executed at the lowest price taking into account any minimum and reserve bids and other bidders.

Bent & Gable
Lot #1 & 2

Bruno Billio
Lot #3
Support Chair
Vinyl, embroidery

The chair spoke to me and told me what it wanted to look like and say. I just listened.

Note: The embroidery on the back of the chair reads "I love and support the Textile Museum of Canada so much that I paid $5000 for this chair designed by Bruno Billio"

bookhou
Lot #4
Untitled
Ash wood

We wanted to tone down the chair's original details, but still retain traces of its former self – carving, staple holes etc. Within this, we replaced the upholstery with the kind of curved steambent wood that we would normally make for more modern chairs but in a way that would let the old and new parts co-exist and inform each other.

Brothers Dressler
Lot #5
I Felt Dandy
Beech chair rearranged with repurposed beech conveyor apron and recycled industrial felt

We reDesigned this antiquated chair by deconstructing and rebuilding it into a comfortable lounge chair emphasizing the zoomorphic attributes. The frame was recast from the existing bones and the traditional seat was revived with recycled felt and supported by slats repurposed from conveyor apron salvaged from a defunct Toronto felt factory.

Cannon Design
Lot #6
3 Times Larger in New France*
(* So observed Samuel de Champlain, when he saw the snowshoes of North America)

We considered the socio-cultural exchange between France and Canada in the 1720s, when the original Louis XVI chairs were created. Our re-design juxtaposes two realities: the extravagant prosperity of France (a plush seat) and the raw, fur-trade based economy of New France (a back laced with babiche, the traditional lacing for snowshoes).

Castor
Lot #7
Chair Paper
Shredded chair
165 x 76 cm

We decided the chair was pretty ugly and we felt obligated to destroy it – we shredded up the whole chair and made paper out of it.

David Chang
Lot #8
Untitled
Cotton webbing, cotton twine, white nails and Louis XVI chair

This chair started off as a project about mending and preservation but evolved into an exploration of weaving and textile building.

Creative Matters Inc.
Lot #9
From the Ground Up
Paint, varnish, hand tufted custom wool area carpet, cut and loop pile

When we got our chair from the Textile Museum, it's simplicity and unusual orange red/black combination had us start where we always do - from the ground up. We designed a custom carpet with gradation of black through to the orange/red tone and finished the rug with a single "button" - a raised puff of wool. The chair has been painted so the legs blend into the carpet for one seamless entity.

Georgia Dickie
Lot #10
The Component Parts of a Lazy Chair
Chair, rope, paint

After dismantling the entirety of the chair’s wooden skeleton, I have re-ordered its parts without reason, vacating the object of its original function. Strung up by an embellished rope, the pieces dangle above the floor on which it once sat.

David Dixon
Lot #11
The Chair of Hearts

This chair is made up of hundreds of silk laser cut heart shaped petals, creating a dense field of hearts. Black on black, keeping the chair classic yet whimsical, and also functional. A chair that will hug you and surround you with hearts any time you need that moment alone and a boost of confidence.

Check back soon!

Peter Fleming
Lot #12
Chair Requiem One, Chair Requiem Two, Chair Requiem Three
Charred European beech from reproduction Louis XVI armchair, plywood, photographic print

Chair Requiem One, Two and Three are made from the immolated elements of a reproduction Louis XVI chair.

Abe Galway
Lot #13
Ravioli
Original wood frame, nylon cord on screw eyes & 95% wool F5 felt fastened with industrial velcro

The chair redesign began with removing all original upholstery, staples & finishes. The elegant qualities of the solid wood frame were preserved and expressed using a luxurious ebony stain and accented with new cushions crafted from 95% pure wool industrial felt. These rest on a minimal laced cord support system. The Ravioli chair is functional; crafted by hand with the assistance of digital tools.

Charlene Gilmour
Lot #14
The Hot Seat
Material donated by Maharam, chair painted by Eurocraft

I love to experiment with different textures and patterns, to change the conventional to the unconventional.

Grant Heaps
Lot #16
Sketch for Quilt Number Seven
Chair, cotton, silk

I used this chair as a sketch for a large mural I am making. I crocheted doilies in traditional patterns with double thread, layering them as a background for a roller coaster, a garden and wonderfully cliched pop song lyrics.

Thrush Holmes
Lot #17
Stagger
Severed chair, spray paint, pink neon, etched text, park bench

The process of redesigning this chair turned so frustrating that I was compelled to abuse it. I hacked the chair in half and reorganized and staggered its components on a park bench. I then etched into the bench portion with text - typical stuff - the random sort that you can expect on a park bench. Finally, I turned to pink neon for the "ultra tag". It enlivens the back of the chair in a somewhat cautionary way while it throws a euphoric, segmented glow from the base.

Patty Johnson
Lot #18
Liana Chair
Kufa vine

One chair transforms to two chairs. My concept is to recycle the chair - to give it to someone who can make excellent use of it and give it a new life. To this end I've donated the Textile Museum chair to the Furniture Bank. I've replaced it for auction with my Liana chair which like the TMC chair carries a history and also a mandate of sustainability. Hand made in Guyana, South America by Liana Cane Furniture, it uses hand cut vines from the Amazon Rainforest. This chair has not only found a life in many homes around the world, it illustrates best practice of sustainable making in all realms. Give me one chair and I'll give you back two. www.pattyjohnson.ca.

Virginia Johnson
Lot #19
Deco Chair
100% cotton canvas, silk screen printed

The print on this chair was influenced by the bold, graphic art of 1920’s Paris and the art deco period. I liked the juxtaposition of a modern, bold fabric on an armchair with a traditional shape.

KerrSmith Design
Lot #20

Check back soon!

Jeremy Laing
Lot #21
Sweater Chair
Knit fabric

What does a chair do to keep warm and cozy during Winter? It wears a cute sweater.

Ryan Legassicke
Lot #22
Overgrown
Chair, tree, thread

Overgrown is a continuation of a series begun in 2004 which explored the slowness of how things evolve over time in relation to the rapid development that the city of Toronto has experienced over the last decade.

Check back soon!

Levitt Goodman Architects
Lot #23
Chair Redux
Louis XVI-style armchair; packaging: Mylar, ink, stretch cord, organza ribbon

Taking a reductionist spin on the reDesign of the given armchair, our finished product is the result of an extreme transformation of form: from antique chair to sheets of paper. The chair was first dismantled; then, its different parts (wood armature, cotton upholstery, and batting) were sent to Saint-Armand paper mill in Montreal to be chipped, shredded, boiled, beat, pulped, and pressed into 15 lbs. of paper.

MADE
Lot #24
The Hunting Chair
Wool, nylon, custom embroidered patches (wood, foam)

The Hunting Chair is an affectionate nod to outdoor life and Canadian iconography. Covered in buffalo plaid - long associated with hunters and lumberjacks, emblazoned with souvenir-like patches; the chair offers shared notions of nature and nation through a personalized trophy.

Amanda McCavour
Lot #25
Friendship Chair
Polyester/cotton blend bias tape, polyester/cotton fabric

Using friendship bracelet making and how I used to use this as a way to pass the time as a starting point, I chose to re-design the Textile Museum’s waiting room chair with variations of friendship bracelet patterns using larger bias tape instead of the traditional embroidery floss. Utilizing half hitch knots and braiding to cover the upholstered surfaces of the chair, I hope this piece would reference the repetitive act of making these bracelets and the sentiment of giving these bracelets to someone else.

Gord Peteran
Lot #26
Elaborinth
Brass, wood

Elaborinth comes from the complex layering of style that we apply to our world as we wrestle with the three levels of desire.

Ed Pien
Lot #27
Luminous
3M reflector film

The upholstery of the chair is partially covered with patterns cut from 3M reflector film. The image depicts a figure tranquilly seated in a forest. Responding to the lighting condition of the room where the chair finds its home, it will emit a seductively luminous glow.

Sandy Plotnikoff
Lot #28
Foil Problem
Paint, cinefoil, holographic foil, sticker, chair, miniature chair, photograph

I have refinished my chair with a holographic foil treatment and then donated it to a thrift shop. A documentation photo of the chair at the thrift shop and 1:12 scale chair replica are my contribution to the auction.

Amanda Reed & Dea Blaghoeff
Lot #29
Beeswax Chair
Beeswax, fabric, plaster

Beeswax Chair plays with an unfamiliar material in a familiar framework, compelling the observer to reevaluate this common object. The original chair upholstery is cast in wax, solidifying the impression of the material, whereas another layer of the fabric is melted within the wax itself, only to be revealed when lit - creating a palimpsest of textiles within the solid form itself.

superkül inc architect
Lot #31
1000 feet | 18 hands
Latex paint, twill tape, burlap, twine, thread

Any act of design is a collaborative and iterative process - and is as much about ‘making’ as it is about initial concept. 1000 feet | 18 hands is an expression of this; every member of the superkül team (9 people / 18 hands) worked on the project, in shifts, over the course of several weeks – with the design and image of the chair evolving as the chair took shape; we decided together when the re-Design was complete, by which point we had used 1000 feet of twill tape, and painted the exposed wood a vibrant, superkül blue.

Annie Thompson
Lot #32
Leaving Summer
Organic bamboo knit and branches

Working in my backyard with falling leaves bouncing off my arms and forehead, taking in the aromas of Fall, wrapping this chair and freshly fallen branches with organic green bamboo - Leaving Summer found it's self, her self.

Kathryn Walter
Lot #33
A FELT Transformation
Industrial felt, plywood

Louis XVI-style is trimmed off, squared up, filled out and covered up. The legs remain, exposed, a reference, in contrast.

Kevin Weiss of Larkin Architect Limited with Holman
Lot #34
MR50 Version 3

The title refers to Mies Van Der Rohe's famous cantilevered armchairs of chrome steel and leather from 1929: also known as the Brno Chair. Mies developed two different versions: one with a tubular frame and one with a flat steel bar frame. This version - MR50 Version 3 - is, perhaps, a delusional desire to realign a late twentieth century faux Louis XVI production armchair with that earlier heroic history of modern design.

Gareth Wilson & Logan Wilson
Lot #35
Hammered
Aluminum

Collaboration with my daughter to see where it would lead us?

Pam Woodward
Lot #36
Stuffed Chair
Fake fur, recycled stuffed animals

For many years Louis XVI chairs have been given the shabby chic treatment of upholstering them in animal print. Recycling stuffed animals into upholstery were an obvious route to whimsy.