Mackintosh Ladderback Chair

It was a new experience for us to make reproduction furniture, however we could not refuse a commission for an iconic Mackintosh chair for an iconic Mackintosh building : the original Willow Tearoom on Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow. This is the first building where Charles Rennie Mackintosh (along with his wife Margaret Macdonald) designed all of the exterior and interior including furniture, lighting, tableware and gesso panels creating an Art Nouveau masterpiece.

We made 125 Ladderback Chairs for ‘Mackintosh at the Willow’, reproducing the original Charles Rennie Mackintosh chairs. Our expertise with steam-bending allowed us to bend the back slats into the curved shape (keeping the wood fibres intact and strong), thereby invisibly strengthening the chair. The chair has a hand-twisted rush seat – a very labour intensive process taking at least a day per seat. The black finish is made of a black stain, a black wax and a black oil based on the original finish. This finish is slightly translucent, feels lovely, and is hard-wearing. (Most original Mackintosh furniture has been painted over with thick gloss paints so our finish may seem unusually sympathetic.)

Part of the proceeds from the sale of Ladderback Chairs goes to the Mackintosh at the Willow Trust to support their charitable activities.

Dimensions w 46 x d 40 x h 104 cm - the same size as they were in 1903 which is in keeping with the proportions of the original room.

We do not keep stock and please allow up to sixteen weeks lead-time.

Please read more about our special commission for the Mackintosh Trust in this journal post.