my kingdom for a chair

~ jama

#16 in an ongoing series of posts celebrating the alphabet.

    
The Alphabet Chair by Sarah Peters.

Ta da!

This has got to be the most unusual piece of alphabetica in my collection so far. Isn’t this cast bronze piece amazing? Best part is, it was originally commissioned back in 2003 to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Eight Cousins Children’s Bookstore in Falmouth, MA. Leave it to kid’s book lovers to come up with the coolest ideas!

I originally saw this chair in a photo taken by Vivian at HipWriterMama, who was lucky enough to vacation on the Cape this summer and see this chair in person. I decided to do a little more digging to find out who designed the chair and how it was made.

The talented artist in question is Sarah Peters, who maintains the Hatch Street Studios in New Bedford, MA. My love for the chair deepened when I discovered it was also a puzzle: each letter bears a unique texture which was imprinted from nature or common objects:


B is for buttons, E is for elephant skin!


R is for rope, S is for scallop shells.

Go to the Texture Page, and try to guess what texture each letter represents. I should have known what “P” was, but couldn’t guess!

The Foundry Page contains great photos and explanations of each step of the process, from making the mold, to waxing, dipping, pouring, and finishing. And check out the Eight Cousins Page, with photos of the chair’s unveiling.

Besides sculptures like this one, Sarah also does bas-relief work and medals. She’s done a whole series of bronze plaques representing historic industries significant to Falmouth. They’ve been permanently installed along the sidewalk abutting the library lawn on Main Street. Perfect! Here’s my fave of this series, “Strawberry Farming”:

Sarah does some commission work, so if you’re ever in need of a bronze Alphabet Chair, or something equally as wonderful, contact her via her website. I imagine some pretty great reading and/or writing could take place while seated in such letterific luxury!

♥ Special thanks to Sarah for kindly granting permission to post these photos here.


 Certified authentic alphabetica. Handmade especially for you with love and a new bronze fixation.

*All photos copyright © 2009 Sarah Peters Sculpture. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2009 Jama Rattigan of jama rattigan’s alphabet soup. All rights reserved.

14 thoughts on “my kingdom for a chair”

  2. Wow! that is a very cool chair!

    I don’t know how I missed your inclusion of Silver Freckles, but I just saw it yesterday–THANK YOU! That was so sweet of you! : )

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  5. Re: not random commenter

    This is Carol at Eight Cousins, who commissioned the chair. I asked Sarah to make it big enough that an adult would feel a little bit childlike sitting in it. It holds 2 adults, or 3 kids, or any combination; and when they sit all the way back, their feet fly up in front. The chair IS comfortable, and is used VERY often, provided the temperature differential between chair and sitter’s skin is not too great. FYI, we did this for our 15th anniversary; and to my disappointment, it doesn’t hold a seated snowman very successfully.

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  6. Re: not random commenter

    Hi Carol! Thanks for the clarification. Glad to hear the chair is comfortable after all. Sarah’s website said 20th anniversary, but I changed it to 15th. 🙂 What a great idea you had!!

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  8. Jama: I visited the lovely EIGHT COUSINS bookstore 2 weeks ago! (We were en route home to Long Island but I deliberately drove home through Falmouth to see EIGHT COUSINS in real life.)

    What a store! I was enchanted from the moment I crossed the threshold. I never wanted to leave. {}

    -Pamela

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