Don’t sit still for convention

The Alma Home in-house design team also combined an unexpected material with a recognisable form for its Rupert chair. It was inspired by an 18th century French salon chair, but upholstered in long-haired goatskin for a shaggy, contemporary look instead of the traditional textiles that are usually used for such chairs.

Everything is fair game for reinterpretation. Peter Woolin’s No Kissing Seat is a modern take on the Victorian conversation seat, while William Warren’s Silhouette Chair references bent-wood furniture to produce a practical, stackable seat.

But for fun, aside from Tail, the best exhibit has to be Arash Kaynama and Kelly Sant’s silicon Giant Belly Chair, made by taking a cast of a belly button and cheekily enlarging it so that the belly button indentation is the seat.

SIT? A Show of Contemporary Seating – 15 February to 12 June, Geffrye Museum, Kingsland Road, London E2. Tel: 020 7739 9893 or visit www.geffrye museum. org.uk