Last week I posted about Joy Cho's photo album of her daughter Ruby's first year. Today I'm sharing another project that captures memories in a completely different way. Click to see how this chair was transformed into a cherished memorial to family.
Brittan grew up loving her mom's photo albums. Years later, she is determined to keep the image of her mother and grandmother alive for her own daughter, who is too young to have really known either woman before they passed away. To that end, she created this amazing upholstered chair using old family photos.
The front panel of this chair features her grandmother, a strong Southern woman who was a pioneer in the women's movement with a long list of firsts to her name. The seat is covered with an image of her mother on her wedding day. On the back is Brittan's own wedding portrait, taken while wearing her mother's veil.
Three generations of women in one chair, as given to the fourth.
Thanks so much for sharing, Brittan!
(Images: Ohhsit!)
Find Your Style: 20 Classic to Contemporary Kitchens to Add to Your Inspiration Board
Beth's Romantic & Retro Residence
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Shaw's Original Fir...
How to Make Easy 3-Ingredient Energy Bars at Home
How To Cook Tender, Chewy Wheat Berries on the Stovetop
Sweet.
What a great idea! What if a protest/awareness group used this idea - putting a picture of impacted individuals on chairs - a la decoupage? I'm hoping an artist near me....
This reminds me of a restaurant in Hong Kong, designed by Philippe Starck where he used photos of the main designers of the space & printed them on the backs of chairs. That, though was an egomaniac's design. This use is sweet!
Absolutely love it!
It's an interesting idea, but not the greatest upholstery job (lots of puckering on the seat). I hope they're planning on going back and redoing the arm pads.
Personally I might be a bit weirded out about "sitting on grandma", but perhaps this isn't meant to be a sitting chair anymore. They certainly are lovely photos.
Sorry, but that's plain creepy. Not far off from taxidermy on your pet.
This is the upholstery equivalent of a tattoo. Unnecessarily permanent and ultimately unsatisfying way to express something visually. You could eat the picture too, but that won't make it any more a part of you than putting it on the wall and looking at it.
beautiful
What a great idea http://psychologos-athina.blogspot.gr/
Cool!
It reminds me of the Anatomically Correct Chair which I also love.
I think this is such a neat idea (not at all like taxidermy or a tattoo, what strange comparisons). I think it is very elegant and a great way to honor the history of the chair and your family.
love it!
This is beautiful! About the furthest thing from pet taxidermy as one could get... Seriously, these are lovely pictures of someone's family printed on fabric and upholstered to a chair that is meant to be a memorial/conversation piece- not a way to keep grandma "alive." Sheesh! And how is reupholstering a chair permanent ("like a tattoo")? It's already been RE-upholstered.
Cool as installation art. Creepy as home furnishing. It kind of leaves my stomach in a knot.
I also find it a bit creepy, but I wonder if the photo has something to do with it? There's something haunting about those old B&W photos if you aren't personally acquainted with the person in it.
(By the way, if I were that little girl, it would take me 2 seconds to figure out how funny it is to scare Mom & Dad by placing the chair in dark, unexpected corners.)
I don't care for the after but I certainly understand the sentimental value behind it. I think I might have done a pillow instead. I would feel odd sitting in this chair because the picture means so much to the owner that I would feel it being disrespectful. I do like the back of the chair...
Soooo, eventually do you have to use upholstery cleaner on the bride or vacuum the cat/dog hair off her. Still creepy and now ludicrous; feel like you're being watched? "Hey, let's turn great granny into a piece of furniture!". Hardly cherishing. I know, really mean (snicker) on my part, but, really?!!
like somebody already pointed out, old pictures are only creepy if you don't have a connection to the person(s) in the picture. and personally i don't see the difference between the chair and hanging the picture on the wall... plus, it's not half as creepy as some of the skulls and bones displayed as found objects in a few of the house tours on this site that people went nuts over.
There's a Stephen Starr restaurant in Philadelphia called Buddakan which has portraits on all their chairs (e.g., http://www.delawareonline.com/blogs/secondhelpings/uploaded_images/buddakan-741563.jpg).
I think this poster's is particularly classy because of it's emotional connection.
I love it for now, but I wonder if her daughter will consider it hokey in 20 years' time...
For some reason I keep picturing a frilly white skirt on the chair and an actual veil coming from the back photo down to the floor.
This is straight-up awesome. I might have used only two pictures instead of three and upholstered the seat in a solid color or subdued pattern, but hey, if two pictures isn't enough, there you go. I don't think it's creepy at all.
This seems very creepy to me too.
I am SHOCKED about the 'creepy' comments. How is this even remotely creepy? I think this is creative and really cool 'outside the box' thinking, and the chair is now a genuine treasure. I have seen designers put photo's of ancestors/family on throw pillows and I LOVE that too. As a matter of fact, I am thinking of doing that, I have some photo's from the mid 1800's of my great, great Grandparents and I would love to see them on pillows or a chair.
I kind of like it too, I love old black and white pictures and it will certainly bring those people into the room, into the conversations of the living. It might not be a long term look, but I bet Brittan will come away with a lot more ideas based on this. The rest of us too.
This is awesome.
@ Horror Vacui , if the daughter finds it hokey in 20, 30, 10, or 5 years, well, she can change it!
I also cannot believe that people find this creepy... I think it is stunningly beautiful and a lovely way of keeping your loved ones in mind.
Is a photo on a wall or mantlepiece creepy? No, so why should one on a chair be creepy.
Gorgeous, sublime, fabulous, <insert any other like adjective here> Charity II at the Red Dot Design Museum in Singapore did similar and different things to chairs too.
PS- it's a chair and if you don't like old photos because they're creepy make sure you burn all your photos etc before you die..
Very nice make over. Really neat idea...
except for the seat...I'm much more comfortable with that photo being not people.
Very interesting and sweet. Definitely an improvement on the chair.
I love it,absolutely love it!
I'm in the creepy camp.
wooooow
jakob.co.il
good to see the wood stayed unpainted. how or by whom were the photos transferred onto the fabric?
I love this... its slightly unsettling nature adds to its charm, in my opinion.
lovely idea. very nice work. ignore the haters.
An acquaintance in college did something very similar to this with all sorts of antique furniture. Using outdated photographic printing techniques like Van Dyke and cyanotype, she used old furniture and images from her family history to create a rather lovely living room installation. She printed on both fabric and wood, which I believe she kept as vintage as possible to create another layer of history. Yes it was considered art, but the idea was to be able to convey history in a livable, thought provoking way.
I always loved the idea.
I don’t think this is creepy at all, what’s the difference between a chair and making a throw pillow with a similar printed image on it.
Virginia Grayson
Fabulous Idea! I hope some group/artist does do that. Brilliant!