The Cubi Chair

The Cubi Chair by Lerwick-based architectural designer Eve Eunson is an evolution of the traditional Fair Isle Strawback chair. Eve has simplified and refined the form, designing a chair that retains the vernacular character and is also functional within a multitude of settings in contemporary life. The Cubi is a versatile chair and is at home in a commercial, hospitality or domestic context, pulled up alone next to the fire or at a desk, and in greater numbers around a dining table or in a boardroom. Its name comes from the coiled and knotted straw baskets, historically found in homes throughout Fair Isle, Shetland and Orkney known as ‘cubbies’.

The Cubi is more than useful and beautiful. Eve is the sole professional guardian of the Fair Isle straw knotting technique. The Cubi’s mid-height, gently curved supporting back is formed using the Fair Isle technique of securing coiled straw with vertical knots, to create a warp and weft type structure. This unusual basketry technique differs significantly from the more common stitched coiled straw work, seen in the Orkney chairs. The ash frame is made in collaboration with Bigton-based Paparwark, with the form and proportions carefully derived from Eve’s comprehensive survey of existing traditional Fair Isle chairs.

It is thanks to Eve’s research and tenacity that the Fair Isle Strawback practice has been listed on the UK Heritage Craft Association’s ‘Red List’ of critically endangered crafts. Recognising that preservation is only part of the challenge to keeping historic craft traditions alive, Eve designed the Cubi with the mission of establishing a system that presents opportunities for others to grow crops, learn skills, make money and develop production with community impact. When we visited Eve’s Lerwick home and studio in the summer of 2022, we were charmed by her wry humour and moved by her stoic commitment to explore ways of bringing renewed relevance and purpose to a craft in decline.

Eve is not interested in fetishizing a craft for nostalgic purposes; she is dedicated to embedding knowledge and opportunities within her communities, reaching an audience beyond the craft collector, to achieve impact at scale. We saw the Cubi as a prototype-in- progress in Eve’s workshop, and have been determined ever since to do what we can to support her in the celebration and promotion of this mission. The Cubi embodies our own mission at Bard too, helping to provide a platform for people to learn about and invest in craft as an important repository of cultural identity with potential for ongoing social and economic impact.