Stitch Chair

I've been on a quest these last few months to discover a way of living differently - to essentially do more with less; which this past month has been more, dare-fully worded, philosophical than material. And to those who are inquiring about the sparse nature of what could be thought of as progress, I would like to say, in a non-cheeky, non-after-skool-special and rather serious (and hopefully self-evident) manner, that success and discovery is built on a foundation of failures. And so to fail is a great thing, it is a great way to gather information! And I shall take advantage of that glorious Vanity I've been blessed with to continue with a revised perspective on the nature of what it means to live differently.

So the house isn't built (as I am rethinking strategy after first attempt to cover in shrink wrap which literally ended in flames) and I have an idea to 'take this show on the road' in a PT Barnum-esque type of way. The winter is a-coming, the garden is woefully inadequate (the unusual weather has upstate NY declared a disaster area, there should be tomatoes by now I hear and I have barely any) - And so I am re-defining the PR van as a mobile dwelling. Perhaps you could think of this as an uber-revolutionary, efficient and intelligent way to carry on or maybe you think it unusual that I plan to live out of a van*. I will leave you with either thought as I roam the American landscape - learning for myself what the 'average american' really is these days - and perhaps I get one of these cheap netbook computer machines so I can keep everyone well-informed with what I learn. As for date of departure: uncertain.

In the meantime, I've also been investigating the nature of comfort - at work, at home, while reading or writing - and it has lead to the development of about a dozen chair prototypes and models (this is what I do when I'm stuck on PR design problems).

While I will spare the details of the generalized working principles I've come up with regarding chair design - here is my latest iteration. It is by far the most comfortable chair I've come up with so far (though admittedly it needs some type of a platform, be it legs or rocker) and I rather like the look (which came about solely through necessity as it is one continuous sheet of plywood and I could think of no other way w/ the materials I had available to get it into shape.) I'm interested in getting a general ich nicht or ach ya from my usually-astute-readership-community.

Do keep in mind this is a mock-up and not final version - there are some cracks where I over-stressed the material and it doesn't line up as perfectly as I'd like. Other than that it's amazingly stiff even though it's only 1/4" plywood...

PS - this is why I needed a compass

*And yes, in my travels there will surely be times when I am parked near a river.