Bethan Gray is head of furniture design at Habitat, one of the high street’s main furniture shops. Her work is admired and sought after in homes across Britain and beyond.
But only one person will have the privilege to sit in her latest creation - the young designer from Cardiff has accepted the challenge of designing Welsh poetry’s most important icon - the National Eisteddfod’s bardic chair.
In a special edition of Sioe Gelf - Y Gadair, we follow Bethan Gray’s process as she designs the chair and we also take a look at the history of Eisteddfod bardic chairs and how they reflect furniture fashion throughout the years.
“It was such a privilege to be approached to design the chair for the 2008 Cardiff Eisteddfod,” said 32 year old Bethan, who grew up in the capital.
“The bardic chair is obviously very important and there is a huge pressure to try and come up with something interesting.”
Bethan started her career with Habitat after she won an award sponsored by the company in the New Designers exhibition in Islington, London. She is now Head of Furniture Design at Habitat and even though her office is in London, her work takes her to countries in Asia, to Italy and Slovenia on a regular basis.
“I researched past bardic chairs to see what other designers had created, before deciding on a final design that is much simpler than most of the other chairs,” she added.
The programme will give an overview of some of the most famous bardic chairs of the National Eisteddfod, notable because of their design and manufacture. Amongst the many chairs are the ‘Shanghai’ chair, won by Gwenallt in 1926, the modern chair made of white Formica and presented in 1970, and possibly the most controversial chair that was awarded to Myrddin ap Dafydd in the 2002 St Davids National Eisteddfod.
In addition, there will be interviews with Dr Sioned Williams, Furniture Curator at St Fagans National History Museum and a rare interview with Gerald Williams, nephew to poet Hedd Wyn, who will discuss the 1917 Black Chair created by Belgian refugee Eugene Vanfleteren.
Will Bethan’s design fulfil her dreams? Will she be pleased with the final result when she goes to Pembrokeshire to see the finished chair, created by furniture maker Alex Macdonald, for the very first time?