ARE you sitting comfortably?
Probably not as comfortably as if you were sat in an award-winning chair designed by a Warwick firm – but to do so will cost you £8,500.
The Callum lounge chair was created by celebrated automotive designer Ian Callum and his team at design and engineering business Callum.
And the epitome of luxury has just been awarded the Bespoke Guild Mark by the City of London livery company and furnishing industry charity, The Furniture Makers’ Company, in recognition of its design credentials and winning combination of beauty and ergonomics.
Ian, one of the UK’s most top car designers, counts the Aston Martin Vanquish, Vantage and DB9 among his creations. He also spent two decades at Jaguar designing models including the F-Type and C-X75.
The Callum Lounge Chair is the team’s first furniture design project and was inspired by the iconic 1956 Eames lounge chair.
It has been designed to create an elegant and efficient ‘lightness’, both physically and visually. Floating wooden forms are connected by a modern, minimalist skeletal structure of carbon fibre and steel, with a moulded plywood shell encased in a eucalyptus veneer and finished in leather trim.
Each handcrafted chair is made to the customer’s colour and finish specification with two heights and ten leather options available.
Ian said: “It’s an incredible honour to be awarded such prestigious recognition as the Bespoke Guild Mark.
“While the Callum team has vast experience and achieved recognition in the automotive industry, our intention with the business is to create bespoke and low volume products that really excite us across a broad range of sectors. I have always wanted to explore the challenges of furniture design and was delighted when our design study was so well received.
“For this project to result in the furniture industry’s ultimate design-maker accolade is humbling and true testament to how the entire Callum team applies itself wholeheartedly to new challenges.”
Daniel Hopwood, Bespoke Guild Mark chairman at The Furniture Makers’ Company congratulated Ian and his team.
He added: “The Callum Lounge Chair, which is a real triumph and demonstrates how the most outstanding design can transcend industries.
“Carrying unrivalled design credentials across from automotive design to this exquisite piece of furniture is an incredible feat and one that is deserving of the Bespoke Guild Mark, which we only award to the most meticulous, luxurious and highly crafted pieces of bespoke furniture.
Since its launch in 1958, Bespoke Guild Mark has been the apex of distinction for UK designer-makers.
