We Remember You

Anyone who knows the work of Tim Stead will instantly recognise this as one of his chairs (this one at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh). Tim was a talented artist who lived and worked in the Scottish Borders. He believed that the barriers between art, craft and design are artificial and limiting, and that the utilitarian could be as beautiful and as expressive of ideas as fine art. A great aspiration which I hold dear.

His projects have ranged from high art to public seating. Some of his most powerful pieces were the rood screen and furniture for the North Sea Oil Industries Memorial Chapel in Aberdeen - commissioned in 1989 after the Piper oil disaster. The initial letters of the woods used in the chair backs spell out the simple but poignant "We remember yew". I remember visiting the chapel and seeing and sitting in these chairs. They were both beautiful and comfortable. It was a very moving experience. SadlyTim died in 2000 at the age of 47. A great loss.