In the design of the Willow Tea Rooms in Glasgow, which opened in 1904, Charles Rennie Mackintosh was responsible for the entire interior as well as the much-admired geometric exterior design, which fronted onto Glasgow’s elegant Sauchiehall Street. The chair with the high ladder-back shown here was used in the dining rooms.
Surprisingly unpretentious in its appearance and simple in its construction, the chair can be seen as a reinterpretation of the traditional, simple wooden chair typical in many parts of Europe. The seat, which was originally made of rush wickerwork, is a direct reference to this source of inspiration. Among Mackintosh researchers, the Willow Tea Rooms ladder-back chair is considered one of the few designs without figurative decoration. The fact that the chair was, however, conceived to some extent as a decorative object can be seen in the dual design strategy used in its backrest. On the one hand, Mackintosh followed an approach of radical simplification: the posts of the backrest and the slightly curved slats between them are exceedingly modest. At the same time, they are transformed into abstract decorative features through hyperbole and exaggeration: numerous slats adorn the extended back posts.
Despite its sturdy appearance, the chair was apparently not particularly stable: soon after the Tea Room opened, the posts of the backrest were reinforced by a bar along the rear side of the top slat.
Text: Mathias Remmele
