Chris Wolston’s Wicker Chairs Weave Bodily Exuberance with Functionality

A wicker chair with arms raised upward, legs, and feet.

All images © Chris Wolston, shared with permission

American artist and designer Chris Wolston (previously) conceptualizes the possibilities of melding the human body with the form of a chair. Emerging from his second studio in Medellín, Colombia, Wolston’s Nalgona series highlights the South American country’s tradition and abundance of mimbre, or wicker.

In a video documenting the process of making a chair from this collection, Wolston explains that “Nalgonas are simultaneously a chair and an anthropomorphic embrace, a human form embracing a human form.” By incorporating raised, wiggly arms, arched legs, and bottoms, Wolston’s work imbues playfulness and joy with the practicality of furniture design. The results are unique, exceptionally humanistic, and welcoming.

The artist works with local weavers in Medellín, using wicker sourced from the Colombian Amazon. Beginning the process in his studio by sculpting tentative chair forms out of clay, Wolston then creates blueprints of the final design before welding a frame for the wicker to be woven into. Experienced weavers who have practiced the craft for decades slowly but surely bring each bodily piece to life, row after row, detail after detail.

His forthcoming solo show, Chris Wolston at Hotel Bel-Air, opens in Los Angeles on October 25. For more information, follow along on Instagram.

A wicker chair with arms raised upward, legs, and feet. The back of the chair features a human-like behind.

A wicker chair with wiggly arms, legs, and feet.

A wicker chair with wiggly arms, legs, and feet. The back of the chair features a human-like behind.

A wicker chaise that has a large hand and its fingers curled over the edge of it.

A wicker chair with wiggly arms, legs, and feet.

A wicker side table with many hands.

A wicker chair with arms raised upward holding a bedazzled pair of red lips. It also has bodily legs and feet.

A wicker chair with a long arms shaped like a vortex. It also has legs and feet.

Side view of a wicker chair with a long arms shaped like a vortex. It also has legs and feet.

A wicker chair with a long arms shaped like a vortex. It also has legs and feet. The back of the chair features a human-like behind.

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