Stoel Burrowes' Cat's Cradle: A Fusion of Tradition and Innovation

Award-winning living-room chair design that marries antique woodworking traditions with contemporary materials

Stoel Burrowes drew inspiration from Scandinavian Mid-Century Modern and Windsor Chair-making traditions to create the Cat's Cradle. However, the design also incorporates contemporary materials and whimsy in its elastic seat and back material, offering a unique dialogue between tradition and modernity. The chair's design engages users through its up-to-date materials, while its structure and frame echo traditional craftsmanship.

The Cat's Cradle stands out for its unique properties, including its custom, comfortable elastic seating. Delicate but strong legs of White Oak support and penetrate Poplar side-rails and affix an Ash crest. The chair's strong cross- and side-rails hold the ends of a 3/16 bungee cord woven to form an elastic and playful seat, offering a unique blend of comfort and aesthetics.

The chair's realization technology is a testament to Burrowes' innovative approach to design. Four tapered White Oak legs form the vertical structure from floor to crest, with Poplar rails glued to and resting on the widest parts of these legs. A steam-bent solid Ash crest is shaped and grooved to set over the legs and accept the bungee cord that forms the back. The seat's bungee is looped around the wood cross rails or around the brass screws in the Poplar side rails.

The Cat's Cradle measures 92cm wide x 72cm deep x 94cm tall. A solid wood frame of Poplar, Oak, and Ash supports 100m of 5mm bungee cord woven and attached by brass screws and Oak dowels. The elasticity and angles of the seat and back make the Cat's Cradle an excellent lounge chair, perfect for a cup of tea and a good book, or warm company and conversation.

Stoel Burrowes first prototyped the Cat's Cradle in 2008 in Mahogany with a Danish Cord seat and back. The chair evolved into its current Oak and Bungee form in 2011, with corrections in angles and materials allowing for increased stability and comfort. The design process involved extensive research in seating sociology and history, contemporary craft, and fine woodworking, as well as Burrowes' teaching experience in design and furniture making.

The Cat's Cradle design was awarded the Golden A' Furniture Design Award in 2013. This prestigious award is granted to marvelous, outstanding, and trendsetting creations that reflect the designer's prodigy and wisdom. They are venerated products and bright ideas that advance art, science, design, and technology, embodying extraordinary excellence and significantly impacting the world with their desirable characteristics.