Hasta La Ideas

The original version of the Adirondack chair looked pretty different from the one we know today. The earlier version was called the Westport Chair after Westport, New York, the town where it was designed.

A typical modern-day Adirondack chair. (Image: Greg Hume, CC BY-SA 3.0)

A Westport chair, circa 1905.

The first Westport Chair was designed by Thomas Lee, a non-designer and Harvard graduate who dropped out of law school. Born into a wealthy Masschusetts family, Lee didn’t need to generate income, and enjoyed spending time at his family’s summer home in Westport, New York. An outdoorsman at heart, Lee spent 1900 to 1903 trying to perfect an outdoor chair for the Westport retreat, testing it out with various family members before settling on the design you see here.

When local carpenter and friend Harry Bunnell looked like he was going to run out of work, Lee gave him the design, encouraging him to make and sell the chair. Bunnell did just that, and patented the design in 1905; while this was apparently fine with the charitable Lee—who “had no interest in manufacturing,” according to Bruce Ware, Lee’s great-great-nephew–the arrangement “caused bitterness in some of the descendants,” according to upstate New York newspaper The Sun, who tracked down Ware to get the chair’s origin story.

While the chairs sold well, over the years deforestation made it harder to find the wide, knot-free hemlock boards the chair’s back and seat were made from. By 1938, New Jersey inventor Irving Wolpin patented a version of the design made from narrower, more readily-available boards. The chair’s overall form was streamlined, and a contoured profile was added to the seat’s front.

It’s not clear how this design came to be called the Adirondack chair, but this is the version that, being more manufacturable, gained true mass popularity (minus that contour on the seat front, which many have done away with). As far as I can tell, the patent has lapsed—Wolpin’s 1938 patent has “Term of patent 7 years” written on it—and numerous companies today make chairs they freely call Adirondack chairs. There are even versions made from recycled plastic, which is a much better materials choice from a durability and maintenance standpoint.

Recycled HDPE Adirondack Chair by Polywood

However, if you still want to buy a wood Westport chair—and don’t want to pay the $6,000 – $8,500 the originals are going for on antiques sites—New-York-based Dartbrook Rustic Goods sells their take on the Westport Chair for $345.

This is a long way to go to achieve a unique decorating effect, but I still enjoy watching experiments like this. Woodworker Michael Alm was willing to put in oh, 10x the labor of creating ordinary hardwood edge banding by cutting up, rearranging, relaminating and veneering plywood into strips with an eye-catching pattern.

Here’s his process, mistakes included:

I’ll put this in the category of “Things I might have wondered about and attempted, but I’m glad I didn’t” after seeing all of the extra labor, glue, electricity and elbow grease this required. That being said, I really do like the visual effect.

Dezeen Showroom: designed by Matthew Hilton for Case Furniture, the Eos Platform Lounger combines a sunbed with an elongated side table.

Made from powder-coated aluminium with a sling seat, the Eos Platform Lounger is stackable for storage and incorporates two discreet wheels and plastic floor glides to make it easy to move around.

The frame is built to withstand weathering and rusting, while its Textilene fabric upholstery is mould-, mildew- and UV-resistant.

The table can be attached to either side of the lounger to provide ample space for drinks, books and other essentials.

The lounger is part of Hilton and Case Furniture‘s Eos collection of contemporary, lightweight outdoor furniture, and pairs well with the side table and lounge armchair.

It is available in a black, white or rust finish.

Product: Eos Platform Lounger
Designer: Matthew Hilton
Brand: Case Furniture
Contact: sales@casefurniture.com

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Beyond its natural delights, this city’s brimming with unexpected treasures

Exploring Mt Pleasant, South Carolina can be surprising. The oft-overlooked sibling to Charleston feels like unearthing a long forgotten sweater that happens to fit perfectly. A quick drive across the Coopers River (or a steep bike ride if you’re feeling active), Charleston and Mt Pleasant seem interconnected, and share the same airport. Yet Mt Pleasant’s expansive feeling—with its unique and sprawling neighborhoods, glorious historic homes and charming waterfronts—offers the ideal foil to Charleston’s more bustling downtown ambiance.

Founded in the 18th century (originally as a summertime retreat for wealthy Charleston families), Mt Pleasant’s Old Village district now features a charming main street of shops. The Shem Creek area is a prime waterfront arena to view the shrimp boats haul their wares in, with dolphins in hot pursuit. (If you’re lucky you may catch a glimpse of a pod nibbling on the leftovers from the day’s catch.) With Sullivan Island just a quick bike ride over the Ben Sawyer Bridge, the reward for your efforts is three miles of pristine beachfront with no commercial development to interrupt the view. This city will win you over with its quintessential southern charm, growing culinary scene and ample natural delights.

Post House

A coastal restaurant with a newly launched small suite of rooms upstairs, Post House just underwent a two year renovation under the stewardship of Kate and Ben Towill of Basic Projects. The design duo managed to hold onto the history of the building (originally built in 1896) and create a restaurant with a warm, convivial neighborhood energy. The robin’s egg blue exterior painted trim and shutters continue upstairs as a soothing wall color in select bedrooms, while the dining area embraces warmer tones—from the red tufted chairs to the striped outdoor awning in the back garden. The menu offers a seasonal mix of American eats with a Low Country twist, proudly highlighting the local farms and providers they work with. Pair the East Coast oysters and fish and shrimp curry with a bottle from their surprising wines section.

The Shellmore

To experience the charm of I’On Village, a quaint residential community within Mt Pleasant, head to The Shellmore. Best known for their oysters, the eatery’s fresh, daily menu features plenty of locally caught specialties. Enjoy a night of seafood at their wood-paneled horseshoe bar or take in the warm South Carolina air under the striped umbrellas in the back garden.

Charleston Artist Collective

Located just down the street from Post House in the historic Old Village neighborhood, the Charleston Artist Collective was founded more than a decade ago by Charleston native Allison Williamson. Recognizing the demand for affordable art, and with a growing roster of local artists in her rolodex, Williamson set out to create an art gallery that felt as inviting as its prices. Today, she features works ranging from $75 to $7,500 and has added in a charitable element to sales, allowing her to donate over $200,000 to various non-profits across the country.

Elizabeth Stuart

An American interior designer and the founder of her eponymous design boutique, Elizabeth Stuart has been a fixture on the Charleston design scene since her shop first opened in 1996. An avid traveler, she finds treasures all over the globe, but the inviting atmosphere of her shop provides a definite feeling of cohesion. Venetian glass bowls, antique French caned seating and gilded mirrors are just the start of the curious and lovely finds you may unearth.

Coastal Crust

A visit to the navy A-frame of Coastal Crust, a family-run pizza restaurant, feels like an event—from the handmade dough and pizza options crammed full of seasonal delights to the ambiance. Their signature vintage truck-turned-oven provides a lovely backdrop, while ample outdoor space complete with cozy fire-pits sets a great mood for al fresco experiences.

Images courtesy of respective venues, hero image courtesy of Post House

The Vessel viewpoint at New York’s Hudson Yards has temporarily closed after a fourth person died by suicide after jumping from the Heatherwick Studio-designed structure.

The attraction is currently closed after a 14-year-old boy jumped from its eighth floor last Thursday, just two months after the viewpoint reopened with new measures in place to prevent suicides.

It is the fourth suicide at the tourist attraction designed by British designer Thomas Heatherwick’s studio since it opened in 2019.

Visitors banned from entering alone

The Vessel is a honeycomb-shaped attraction composed of 154 staircases that meet at 80 platforms that was built as the centrepiece of the Hudson Yards development.

It reopened to the public on May 29 after being closed for four months. Among the measures introduced in the suicide-prevention overhaul was a buddy system that prevented people from entering the attraction alone.

“Vessel was envisioned as a shared, immersive design experience,” said a spokesperson for Hudson Yards developer Related Companies at the time.

“Requiring visitors to attend in groups of two or more significantly enhances the safety of the experience.”

Signs with the National Suicide Prevention Hotline number were also fixed along the walkways and on tickets. However, the height of the railings around the structures, which are chest-high, have not been altered.

Structure may not reopen

Following the latest suicide, reports suggest that Related Companies chairman Stephen Ross is considering closing the structure permanently after he told the Daily Beast: “we thought we did everything that would really prevent this”.

However, Lowell Kern, the chairman of the local community board disputed this claim and said “they could have raised the height of the barriers”.

Concerns about the potentially climbable barriers were raised as early as 2016, such as when Audrey Wachs of the Architects Newspaper said: “when you build high, folks will jump”.

The January closure followed the death of a 21-year-old man at the structure.

In December 2020, a 24-year-old woman from New York died after jumping from the structure, following the suicide of a 19-year-old man in February 2019 before the structure’s official opening.

Alongside concerns about its safety, the building has also attracted criticism over its aesthetic, for being a privately-funded development and the fact that Hudson Yards owned the rights to photographs taken at the structure.

In 2019 Heatherwick defended the project in a talk with Dezeen stating that people “shouldn’t underestimate what it takes” to build public spaces with private money.

The photography is by Michael Moran for Related Companies.

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