SLING

2021-2022
Sling is a collaboration between designer and woodworker Eric McBain and textile artist Isabella Valeria Bontorin. 

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At its heart, this project is a restoration of a 38 year old family relic. This clever yet simple collapsible chair was purchased in Winnipeg in the early 80’s and became the site upon which Eric was breastfed and fell asleep with his mother as an infant. To honour this connection, the skeleton of the sling chair was restored to natural wood tones stained to be reminiscent of driftwood. Inspired by old family photographs, the textile sling was reimagined by Isabella as a handmade homage to the chair’s nostalgia through a timeless contemporary aesthetic. This act of restoration is a meditation on care, for both the process and material. Through removing its thick brown shellac and dated textiles, we breathe new life into the objects that raised us.