Elliot Gorham, Steam Bent Blackwood Timber Chair (FURNITURE 2025)

Photos:

Michael Gordon Hill

Country

Australia

The Steam Bent Chair was designed and made by Elliot Gorham, for the Speaker’s Dining Room at the Victorian Parliament. Elliot has 20 year’s experience, in-depth knowledge and skill in fine furniture design and manufacture, specialising in steam bending solid timber. Steam bending is a technique used to manipulate wood into various curves to create versatile, durable, sustainable and beautiful furniture designs. The process involves heating the wood with steam until it becomes pliable, then bending timber to form and finally setting in shape for a range of creative possibilities. Steam bending is a traditional approach, which has been applied to this modern chair’s backrest and seat’s supporting rail, the result is the perfect balance of ‘old meets new’. Elliot was inspired by the beauty, elegance, harmony, proportion, appropriateness of use for a parliamentary protocol meeting room and unity with other design elements within the Speaker’s Dining Room at the Victorian Parliament. The Steam Bent Chair pays homage to the heritage character of the room but is contemporary enough as not to look outdated. The Steam Bent Chair can be used for warm, intimate dining, business meetings or in a private function setting. The custom fit, leather upholstered seat pad and steam bent backrest prioritises comfortable and ergonomics for its user. The Steam Bent Chair is made from premium Otway’s Blackwood timber. What makes this timber special is its dark, rich, consistent tones and delicate fiddle back feature. This very special timber has been fondly named ‘the number 6 tree’ and has been stored at Corsair Sustainable timbers for over a decade, as Denis Brown, owner of Corsair Sustainable timbers, has been waiting for the right project for it to be used for. In his 30 years’ experience of milling, drying and selling timber, this Blackwood tree’s timber is one of the best he’s seen. A 2500m long piece of 200mm wide x 50mm thick timber from ‘the number 6 tree’, can be used to make a single Steam Bent Chair. This level of detail, consistency and ability to match the grain, elevates the chairs beauty to the highest level. This is the best, most respectful use of the timber, with very minimal waste. The Steam Bent Chair is a celebration and culmination of Elliot’s furniture making career and woodworking skill to date.

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