Aaron Hines Design Portfolio

Ney Swivel Chair

2008:  The Ney Swivel Chair (sorry, I didn’t come up with the name) was inspired by several mid-century modern rattan chairs of similar construction.  Intent on maintaining some originality, I incorporated elements from various other mid-century or more recent chairs of related appearance, and added more conventional cushions than the inspiration chairs used.  Making such an open-framed swivel chair is alway challenging (where to hide the ugly swivel bearing?) but I think this one turned out well.  The scale is smaller than the company’s typical lounge chairs – they call it an “accent chair” – but its just right and extremely comfortable.  The natural rattan frame lends a certain amount of flex that makes the chair more lively than a metal or wood-framed chair.

The Ney Swivel Chair is part of the Celerie Collection by Laneventure.

Adirondack chair

2006:  The goal for this project was to design an adirondack-style collection that wasn’t totally derivative of every other adirondack chair that had ever been made.  The manufacturer for the project was well-versed in adirondack styles and had a particular construction style they insisted on using (that allows a certain level of flat-packing, which is difficult to argue against) leaving relatively few things that could be changed in the attempt to differentiate.  The original design was meant to convey a more sinister feel, with decidedly dramatic proportions and details than one would normally see in the adirondack style.

The final product differed somewhat from the original sketches due to manufacturing constraints as well as some “marketing dept.” influence (i.e. the wheels) and a general toning down of the original design.   The wheels were added to make the chair easier to move around; they serve that purpose well enough and don’t take away from the design too much.  The name that was going to be licensed to the collection did not fit with the original design, so it was watered down during development (although the licensing fell through in the end).

This chair is part of the Coastal Classics Cypress collection by Laneventure.

Publicity!

Various bits of publicity for things I’ve worked on at Laneventure since 2004.  In no specific order:

• Huntington Bay teak, ca. 2005 (designed with Jonathan Dearman)
• Spinnaker synthetic wicker, ca. 2007
• Celerie mixed media, ca. 2004
• Mondrian natural wicker, ca. 2007
• Platinum synthetic wicker, ca. 2006
• At Home In Tuscany wrought aluminum, ca. 2005-2006
• Kingston synthetic wicker, ca. 2006

Vera chair

Circa 2006:  Another item for Laneventure (single item, not a collection).  Sort of builds on the ‘Spinnaker’ aestethic, but its heavily inspired by a real mid-century modern chair.  We had to work at the frame for this chair to make it both durable and not particularly expensive.  Bent ply would have been perfect for the back, but it proved to be cost-prohibitive for a single frame component.  The production part is a paper composite; its much more dense (and stronger) than MDF, made from laminations of heavy paper much like bent ply.  Not as strong as real plywood, but more than adequate and much less expensive.  The complete chair is nicely scaled, and very comfortable.  Its garnered quite a lot of shelter magazine and trade publication attention for Laneventure.

Spinnaker collection

Circa 2005-2006:  The Spinnaker collection for Laneventure is the first successful work at my employer that I feel is worth sharing with my name attached to it.  It was originally meant to be a laminated teak affair, but after production issues and projected costs came in, we put it on the back burner only to revive it a year later in synthetic wicker.  For my employer, it challenged commonly-held views on what makes a proper chair (note it doesn’t use a typical back cushion, only pillows) as well as presented some technical challenges in cushion construction that allowed water to pass through easily yet hold its shape with extended use.   The lounge chair is the only item shown at this point, but there are other great pieces in the collection (you can check them out at the Laneventure website in the meantime).  A design patent was awarded for the collection in 2007.