While I was renovating the studio space I started to look for some simple, second-hand chairs that I could upholster with my own fabric. I found two vintage Polish chairs from the 60's, the so-called 'skoczki' (Eng. 'ski jumpers').

It’s thanks to their appearance and our national obsession with winter sports that gave the chairs their name (shape resembling a ski jumping run). That type was extremely popular in the communist era and can be easily found in second-hand furniture stores or on the Internet.

For this project, I decided to use Shetland wool in marled blue and natural dark grey. And while this kind of heavy-duty fabric likes simple construction, I went for a well-trusted log cabin. The photo below shows both washed (top) and unwashed fabric (bottom). After washing, the fibers opened up nicely and the fabric, initially 57 cm wide, shrunk to 53 cm.

Both chairs were delivered to Monika a.k.a. WOODju who did the rest of renovation – cleaning, upholstering and reassembling the chairs. Before the renovation, wooden frames had an ugly brown(ish) colour and even more ugly claret fabric on the seat and back. Together with Monika we decided to remove as many layers as possible and uncover the natural colour of wood, now coated with transparent lacquer. Much better! Monika did a brilliant job.

I think my first-ever furniture renovation went ok and I’m now enjoying using these chairs in the studio. By today’s standards they are rather small however I like their height – quite comfy while threading the heddles or while spinning yarn on my wheel.