“There is no plan at the beginning, you just see how it evolves and morphs into other things,” says Melbourne architect and designer Chris Connell.  A starting point anyone who’s been faced with a blank page and a pencil can relate to.

Whether most of us could come up with a solution that ticks all the boxes of environmental sustainability, comfort and aesthetics the way his Heide Chair is another matter.

Connell designed the Heide Chair [pictured above] for the soon to be opened café at the Heide Museum of Modern Art.

“It’s durable, lightweight and comfortable,” says Connell. “We chose stainless steel and decided on powder-coating on the seat to introduce colour, so design-wise we’re not re-inventing anything.

“I’d been thinking about doing a chair and thought this would be the perfect vehicle. It’s design meeting art, with a story to it.”

The Museum has joined forces with Stephanie Alexander’s Kitchen Garden Foundation to implement the Next Generation project to foster awareness in the next generation (the iGeneration) in the areas of gardening, growing and enjoying fresh produce and environmental sustainability, using the new café as both focus and outlet to the public.

Not content with being mere objects, the 120 chairs are themselves contributing to the Project’s fundraising where, for $3000, patrons are able to purchase the ‘naming rights’ to a chair for the next 20 years.

Chris Connell’s firm are also responsible for the design of the café, which will complement the existing suite of award-winning buildings by McGlashan & Everist Architects.

Heide Museum of Modern Art
heide.com.au

Chris Connell
chrisconnell.com.au

Sketch of the new Heide Cafe by Chris Connell Architects