The Fonteyn Chair is named in honour of the celebrated ballet dancer Dame Margot Fonteyn 1919-1991, who together with her dance partner Rudolf Nureyev 1938-1993 mesmerised audiences around the world with their performances of extraordinary grace and athleticism.

The Fonteyn Chair explores the relationship between two separate but interdependent bodies, the seat of the Fonteyn Chair is resolutely athletic, it’s weight shifted and in motion, it holds its back panel partner in a daring but perfect lift, the two bodies dancing in dynamic equilibrium. The athleticism of the seat is achieved through the use of a single block of Verde Guatemala marble giving it weight and strength. Book-matched Burr Oak veneer is used to construct the back panel, the flamboyant display of burring completes the performance.

The two bodies of The Fonteyn Chair cover very different but equally great epochs in time. The Verde Guatemala Marble quarried in India formed millions of years ago. The Oak Tree from which the veneer originates grew in a cattle pasture on a large English Estate in the Cotswold Hills. The tree lived for at least 825 years, growing as a sapling around the year 1250. Combined, the two materials span geological time and great changes in our civilization.