One of the new wave of Australian designers to emerge in the immediate post-war years, Grant Featherston (1922-1995) designed his first chair in 1947. In the early 1950s he developed the now famous 'Contour' range of chairs. First launched in 1951, the 'Contour' was an immediate success, its innovative plywood shell formed using a process that Featherston developed himself in the absence of suitable plywood bending technology locally. In 1957 Featherston was appointed consultant designer to Aristoc Industries, a Melbourne manufacturer of metal furniture. This highly fruitful collaboration resulted in the production of a variety of chairs including the 'Mitzi' (1957), 'Scape' (1960), the 'Expo 67 talking chair' and the 'Stem' chair of 1969.

In 1966 Featherston formed a partnership with his wife Mary Featherston (nee Curry, born England 1943), an interior designer who had studied at RMIT. Their 'Expo 67' chair, with its polystyrene shell, was only the beginning of a run of chairs that, in the spirit of the times, explored the limitless possibilities of plastics in the creation of innovative seating forms:

' ... the integrated one-piece plastic chair [represented] ... the pinnacle of the furniture designer's aspirations. Plastics and moulding technology expresses the synergetic challenge most eloquently. No other material so inherently speaks of body and process, offering a 'negative' of the human body.'
(Grant Featherston, 'Design reflections', In Future, no 4, Feb-March 1987. Quoted in Terence Lane, Featherston Chairs, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1988, p12)

The rotation-moulded, polyethylene 'Stem' chair took 18 months to reach production stage and was one of the most technologically sophisticated chairs ever made in Australia. It, and other innovative designs by the Featherstons helped expand the technological capabilities of local furniture manufacturers at a time when there viability was constantly under threat from foreign imports.

The Featherstons' efforts to keep the local industry competitive while supplying the market with chairs that were technologically and stylistically equal to overseas examples resulted in an important body of work that has significantly enriched Australia's design history.

Designed by Grant & Mary Featherston, Melbourne, Victoria, 1966.

Manufactured by Aristoc Industries Pty Ltd, Victoria, 1967-1970

Designed by Grant & Mary Featherston, Melbourne, Victoria, 1966 and manufactured by Aristoc Industries Pty Ltd, Victoria, 1967-1970.

Chair designed and manufactured for the Australian Pavilliom at Expo '67 Montreal World's Fair.

Listed in Australian Design Index and received Good Design Label in 1967

Chair, "Expo Sound", polystyrene foam / polyurethane foam / Dunlopillo foam rubber / Pirelli webbing / fibreglass / hardwood / wool / sound equipment, designed by Grant and Mary Featherston, Melbourne, 1966, made by Aristoc Industries Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1967-1970

'Expo Sound' chair formed from one piece of moulded polystyrene foam and covered in orange wool fabric. The headrest, back and base constructed in one continuous circular form, the head and back scooped out creating a surrounding effect. The headrest and back feature buttoned upholstery. A circular seat of polyurethane is set into the base of the frame. The underside of the base is fitted with a circular wooden ring. Two speakers are fitted to the internal shell in the head bolster and two circular panels or the speakers are visible on the reverse of the back.

Made: Featherston, Grant; Melbourne, Victoria; 1967 - 1970

: Featherston, Grant; Australia

: Aristoc Industries Pty Ltd; Melbourne, Victoria


Used: Montreal, Canada

None

86/1308

1967 - 1970

1145 mm

735 mm

820 mm