The Mutton Chair: posing circular materials questions through collaborative (re)making

The ‘mutton chair’ is an exploratory collaboration between design researcher Dr Rosie Hornbuckle and furniture upholsterer Vicky Cable. The aim was to investigate sustainable design practice and circular materials through an experimental collaborative research methodology.

On face value re-upholstery is a sustainable activity; repairing and updating undervalued furniture so that artifacts endure and materials aren’t wasted. However, the need to keep costs down and the practice accessible has meant that traditional materials and methods have largely been replaced with quick-fixes and modern materials that are less durable, sometimes dangerous and not compatible with circular systems for material recovery.

Upholsterer Vicky Cable wanted to explore these issues in her own practice, seeking to develop a more sustainable message for her business whilst also making re-upholstery accessible to more people.

From a research perspective the collaboration offered three opportunities:
> to apply circular materials theory to this unique meeting of soft and hard materials;
> to explore the relationship between social wellbeing and sustainable making (exemplified through Vicky’s charity work and personal motivations);
> to trial an experimental research methodology that combines peer learning and mobile methods

The experimental research methodology aims to enable symbiotic exploration and knowledge exchange by drawing upon two complimentary theories: collaborative peer learning (P. Dillenbourg 1999) from educational psychology and mobile methods (Fincham et al 2010; Clark & Emmel 2009) from the social sciences.

The work was conducted through a series of (re)making workshops focusing on The Mutton Chair where guided conversations are recorded during the physical act of stripping and upholstering in Vicky’s workshop. This exhibit focused on the circular materials questions that were raised as a result of the (re)making process, showing both the old materials and the possible new alternatives that are currently being considered.

References
Clark, A and Emmel, N (2009): Connected Lives: Methodological challenges for researching networks, neighbourhoods and communities, Qualitative Researcher, 11, 9-11

Dillenbourg P. (1999) What do you mean by collaborative learning?. In P. Dillenbourg (Ed) Collaborative-learning: Cognitive and Computational Approaches. (pp.1-19). Oxford: Elsevier

Fincham, B., McGuiness, M. and Murray, Lesley (2010) Mobile Methodologies [Edited Collections]