HOW ISLES GAVE US DISTINCTIVE CHAIR DESIGNS

Dundee auctioneers Curr & Dewar featured two fine Orkney chairs on January 9. Both were understood to be from the 19th Century – one of them a child’s chair, the other an adult’s chair with a drawer below the seat – and they were a long way from the scattered archipelago which gave them their name.

I have cycled, walked and run on the Orkney mainland, and its achingly beautiful neighbours, Rousay, Hoy and Sanday. Happy days – but not when the winds blew. Exhausted many times, what wouldn’t I have given to flop down in one of these cosy Orkney chairs.

They are mostly hooded or canopied, and this is said to have been designed to keep out draughts. The islands’ famous lack of trees also contributed to the style adopted. Because wood had to be imported across the stormy Pentland Firth from Caithness, it was expensive.

Orcadian craftsmen used what they had, and what they had in abundance was straw from black oats.

The earliest Orkney chairs – now rare – were constructed almost entirely out of straw, tied together by plaited lengths of sea grass. Driftwood harvested from the shore was added, allowing the general introduction of wooden seats and legs. The chairs come in many forms – driftwood cannot be ordered by size!

In 1876, however, an islander called DM Kirkness designed a standard set of chairs – hooded gentleman’s, lady’s and child’s chairs – which became the types admired by collectors today.

The arched-back, unhooded adult chair featured by Curr & Dewar earlier this month sold for a mid-estimate £550.

The child’s chair also fell between its pre-sale hopes, taking £340.

Orkney chair went for £550 at auction.