YOUNG furniture-makers are being invited to design and create a chair to represent individuals who feel excluded from the Church and society, for reasons including gender, race, class, age, or disability.
The Furniture Makers’ Company, certainly one of the Livery Companies of the City of London, has worked with the Church of England to launch the competition: the Empty Chair Design Award.
A Church House spokesperson said this week: “This isn’t a financial partnership, but, reasonably, a chance to collaborate with the Furniture Makers on our engagement with young people, which is a missional focus of the Church.”
The winning design will receive the Empty Chair Design Award, and shall be considered for batch production. “Parishes can have the choice to purchase certainly one of these pieces, but there isn’t a obligation to accomplish that,” the spokesperson said.
Two runners-up can even be recognised.
The Award, launched on the 2024 Young Furniture Makers Exhibition on Wednesday, is open to any student or recent graduate in full-time education, or those that have accomplished a personal or industrial furniture-design course within the UK. Participants from colleges, universities, and other educational institutions are welcome to use.
An empty chair, the temporary suggests, is an emblem and reminder of loss and lament, and of the absence of belonging. “This design competition [is] for a singular chair that might be installed in churches to symbolise those absent on account of experiencing a way of exclusion, whether by gender, race, class, age, disability, etc.”
Chris Hyde, training and education chairman at the corporate, said: “Participants are expected to work methodically through the design and prototype process, from initial concept development through to the ultimate prototype. The design process will include research, sketching, model-making, mock-ups, and technical drawings, culminating within the creation of a totally functional prototype.
“A key aspect of this competition is the emphasis on craftsmanship and a focus to detail, with the prototype needing to be meticulously crafted to fulfill ergonomic, strength, and proportion requirements.”
Submissions shall be reviewed by a panel of 5 judges, including two church representatives and two company representatives, who’ve yet to be decided. Five shortlisted designs shall be exhibited and at last judged at next 12 months’s exhibition.
The director of the Church of England’s Racial Justice Unit, the Revd Guy Hewitt, said: “We are taking a look at non-traditional ways of engaging young people and our worshipping communities on problems with justice and inclusion.”
The Church Times understands that the partnership isn’t a part of the work of the Racial Justice Commission, “but we’re blissful to support it,” the church spokesperson said. “This project seeks to explore different types of inclusion which include race.”
To apply, complete the net application form before 12 p.m. on 10 June 2025. Full information, including guidelines, at: bit.ly/EmptyChairAward
Read comment from Guy Hewitt here
