The Hole Chair

This delicate chair reflects the form of Allen Jones, whose ‘wish’ was that its shape was perfectly moulded to his own contours. Its quirky style was inspired by the story of a horse sculpture at the Peggy Guggenheim museum: the horse’s organ was screwed on and off to amuse or shock visitors.

The Vision

Allen Jones commissioned Lola Lely to create a chaise longue. Jones’ idea had been on the shelf for over a decade or two and AHEC’s Wish List project presented an opportunity to realise it at last. According to Lola, ‘Allen’s idea stemmed from a story about Peggy Guggenheim and her mischievous nature. She commissioned a sculpture of a horse for her museum in Venice. The horse has a large organ which screws on and off. She often screwed it on when the nuns came by.’ The chaise longue was to take the shape of human form.

Design Process

The fact that the idea was set so firmly in Allen Jones’ head meant that design development was much more to do with making it work, than coming up with new ideas. The chair evolved from a recliner into a more upright form. Lola Lely made a full-size model for Jones to try out and to which she then made adjustments for comfort. This was brought by truck by Benchmark and Jones ended up being ‘fitted’ in the truck outside his home in London’s Barbican, to the entertainment of passers-by.

'The only way we could make the shape I wanted was in veneer,’ said Lely. The main timber used is maple which is of a uniform pale colour, contrasting well with the ‘drawing’ in the dark tones of American walnut. Ace Marquetry created this with great precision from Allen Jones’ drawings (there is an image on the underside as well).  ‘I digitised Allen’s sketch,’ said Lely, ‘and sent it to them for laser cutting’. The result is a quirky, appealing and very personal creation – from the mind of Allen Jones, to fit the body of Allen Jones, but with subtle and vital input from Lola Lely.

Making

Lola Lely’s main task during the making week at Benchmark was to build up the chair on its form from the 13 layers of maple veneer, plus the special top and bottom layers in marquetry. ‘They went together like jigsaws,’ she said.

Allen Jones spent a day in the workshop with her and it was at that point that he decided that the solid head, always present in his original design, was not working. Later he and Lely returned to the problem. ‘We went back to Benchmark on a weekend, with fresh eyes and without the stress of the making week, we spent a few hours drawing up new heads, tearing away, pinching and manipulating various paper heads, she said. ‘The head still looks a bit odd, but in a good way. Allen is really pleased with the results.’

The Outcome

Taking inspiration from the amusing story of the horse commissioned by Peggy Guggenheim, this elegant chair curved from American walnut and American hard maple, comfortably reflected the shape of Allen Jones for whom it was a bespoke creation. A dowel, inserted into the drainage hole for the recliner, makes it unmistakably male. But when Jones removed the dowel he said he would ‘be coupling with a female form’.