Say what you want, but every man wants a great lounge chair at least sometime in his life.

It’s the kind of thing to read a newspaper in, the kind of thing you read a book in, the kind of thing you can — if it’s really comfortable — sit and contemplate life and infinity and Everything That Matters. A philosopher’s chair ... or the throne of a king.

For me it’s a dark mahogany Victorian Morris chair.

It has lion’s heads carved at the ends of each arm. I named one lion’s head, “Celeste,” after my sister. I think I named it this after some long, involved phone conversation with her. The other lion hasn’t quite made the grade — he’s just more tame.

Morris chairs are named after the English aesthetics/arts and crafts-era designer William Morris. Back in the 1880s, Morris was a heaping volcano of a man, involved in radical politics, involved in designing furniture and fixtures, printing elaborate books, building houses and dreams. He’s best known for designing and producing wallpaper designs, some of which are still printed up today — swirling vines. His work is a kind of English national treasure.

I don’t know how many books and magazines I’ve read in my Morris chair. Or how many decisions I’ve made.

The chair is basically a wooden frame holding two cushions, one to sit on and one to lean back on. The back can be adjusted to different heights of personal slouchiness. I keep a reading light nearby.

The wood back is a kind of ladder support, rebuilt by Mark Edgcomb.

The cushions were made in Ladd by Gary Marini long ago. I picked out a fabric for them, something reasonably accurate to the period. Think winding vines and leaves. They had to be very hard, very hard, since I was planning on sitting on them for a good length of time and you need firm cushions if you’re going to be sitting for long. Gary eventually had to jump on top of his cushion-packing machine to make them really good and hard. Do I sit on concrete? Maybe something like that.

I bought the chair in a Peoria antique shop in the early 90s for $500.

I’ve picked up two more Morris chairs since then. One a much more basic oak Morris Chair, with lion’s paws and a cute little pull-out for a footrest and broad paddle arms with that nice three-quarter oak grain. A cup of coffee sits on that paddle arm very well!

I also bought a Stickley reissue Morris Chair with arcing armrests and maroon leather cushions: it’s oak and it’s heavy and it’s built like a tank. It has a matching footrest that’s also heavy and kind of aggressive — it wins if you bump into it.

I like the little design history, I like the looks, I like the feel, and this chair is just one of those things I just always like having around. It says “home” to me.

Copyright © 2022 Shaw Local News Network

Copyright © 2022 Shaw Local News Network