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<\/a>Each student-designed chair reflects months of technical training in joinery, design development, and furniture construction. Program instructor Sandra Carr says the capstone project is designed to challenge students to combine precision craftsmanship with personal expression.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really is meant to bring together different aspects of what students have been learning from the basics of different types of materials and how they work and different joinery techniques, but very much so design, furniture history, the aesthetics of design,\u201d says Carr. \u201cSo all of that really comes together at this time of year.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s pieces are built primarily from locally salvaged materials, including Garry oak, maple, and horse chestnut, supplied through the Vancouver Island Woodworkers\u2019 Guild wood-recovery program. The guild supports the program by providing at a discounted rate reclaimed wood that would otherwise go to waste, allowing students to work with materials that carry both environmental and historical significance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe guild basically salvages urban trees that would normally get cut up for firewood or be burned. So, they have a volunteer program of taking local Garry oak and arbutus and maple and all the trees that we know and love, if they have to come down because they\u2019re dangerous or they\u2019ve been blown down in a windstorm, or, for whatever reason, diseased trees,\u201d says Carr. \u201cThe guild is basically taking those trees, milling them into lumber, and they sell the material close to cost to members and to our school, and they also donate to local high schools.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to graduating student Larissa Piva, this year\u2019s exhibition theme, \u201cagainst the grain,\u201d reflects more than just woodworking\u2014it also speaks to broader cultural and technological pressures facing artisans today.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to me, you know, to keep this tradition alive and to go back to handmade and things that are built with more care,\u201d says Piva. \u201cIt\u2019s really important for me and for, I think, everybody here, and that\u2019s kind of why our theme is \u2018against the grain,\u2019 because we\u2019re kind of like against that commodification of furniture and art, and like, no, let\u2019s go back to when people cared about what they purchased and what they made.\u201d<\/p>\n
The exhibit includes a range of seating designs, each shaped by individual research into form, ergonomics, and historical or contemporary design influences. While chairs remain the central focus, the show also highlights the experimentation and evolution that takes place throughout the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cChairs are just one of the most difficult objects to design and build because it has to interact with the human body,\u201d says Carr. \u201cSo, there\u2019s lots of functional requirements as well as all of the aesthetic requirements, so it really tests what students have learned and allows them to put together a project that brings together lots of different aspects that they\u2019re interested in exploring more, or if they want to explore new things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond technical skill, instructors emphasize that the program is also about developing a design language and learning how to translate ideas into functional, enduring objects.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just so stoked to see all the finished chairs in the gallery because this is the first time I\u2019ve ever been part of an exhibition where you get to see the process of every single piece in the exhibition from designed start to produced, finished,\u201d says Piva. \u201cIt\u2019s just been an experience that I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever have again in my whole life. So I know it sounds kind of cheesy, but just seeing all of our projects together, holding space together, will be, I think, one of the greatest experiences I will ever have as an artist.\u201d<\/p>\n
The exhibition is hosted at the Arts Centre at Cedar Hill, located at 3220 Cedar Hill Road, where it will remain on display, free to the public, until Sunday, July 19.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a world increasingly shaped by mass production and disposable design, graduating students from Camosun College\u2019s Fine Furniture and Joinery program are pushing back with a collection of handcrafted chairs that emphasize intention in material and process. The 10-month program culminates in Against the Grain: An Exhibition of Handcrafted Chairs, a public showcase featuring work […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28284,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[356,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-july-8-2026","category-campus"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t