The Banksia Chair: from the seed of an idea

‘In light of the recent WA native logging ban and global sustainability concerns, could we look to utilise a tree’s waste products as a furniture making material, instead of chopping down the tree itself?’

That’s the question posed by Mark Lilly, a West Australian maker with a ‘a craft-centric approach to design’. Mark’s response was to craft a chair from banksia seed pods, a woody resource that is sometimes shaped or sliced into small vessels, ornaments or coasters – but not furniture.

Banksia grandis is an Australian native species named after the HM Bark Endeavour botanist Sir Joseph Banks. It grows in the south-west corner of Western Australia – the so-called ‘golden triangle’. While the pods are large (up to 200mm long and 100mm in diameter), finding a way to make larger items took some ingenuity. We asked Mark to tell us more about his concept.

How did the idea of using banksia nuts come about?
If I'm honest the idea initially came about two years ago after seeing a maker at a market stall who had their turned banksia wares for sale. The day before I had seen pretty much the same turned banksia pod items for sale in an op shop and they were exactly the same but probably made 10 or 20 years prior. This just tripped something in my brain to think, is there something new that can be done with banksia nuts that no one's really thought of yet?

Are you trying to suggest we use alternatives to wood?
I'm not particularly pushing a statement with this piece, but I'm conscious of the questions it raises and I love to talk these through with people who encounter the chair. I've never been one for definitives, but would rather discourse around subjects like sustainability, carbon footprint, forestry concerns and the state of the furniture industry. That way you're always learning and not preaching.

Are banksia nuts easy to source?
They are prevalent around south-western Australia, but I tend to leave it to the experts (with all the required licenses) to harvest them. Shout out Callum to Djarilmari Timbers!

How did you combine them into a solid material?
Without giving too much away, they are turned on a lathe individually, then a short length of threaded rod is used to join them together along with some adhesive, then it's back on the lathe for a final turn and sand to make the joints seamless.  

Were any problems or difficulties encountered?
Surprisingly not, to be honest. The odd bit of glue squeeze out that seeps into one of the seed holes but nothing I couldn't handle!

Are you likely to use this material again?
Absolutely. I'm giving myself a little time to really develop what can be done with this as a new material language, so I'm in no rush but there's certainly a few typologies that this could be applied to very effectively. Although saying that, I have lots of other ideas in my sketchbook so don't necessarily want to focus on being 'the guy who makes chairs from banksias'.

What are your main take-aways from this project?
Maybe somewhat unrelated to the project itself, but one take-away that I wouldn't mind putting out there is not to let a good idea fizzle out. As designers we all have those little sparks of inspiration, and we owe it to ourselves to push that through from being just an idea to at least a proof of concept or scale model. This idea sat in my sketchbook for two years and it was only because I was flicking back through them to find something to make for an exhibition that I remembered it and I'm very glad I did. 

Photos by Mark Lilly with the exception of Natasha Adamson’s portrait of Mark seated with his dog on the Banksia Chair.

Learn more about Mark Lilly @mannerfurniture at https://manner.bigcartel.com