Project Description
We have discovered that these chairs have a strong nostalgic and cultural value to local Shetlanders and our dispersed diaspora.
So here’s the scene;
In the traditional crofthouses there would have been one of these chairs in the butt end (livingroom) next to an open fire or a rayburn. When your feet were cold you would draw the chair up to the fire and rest your feet on the side to warm them. There are memories of the older people telling story’s of their childhood in the wonderful lilt of the Shetland dialect. A strong connection to the past and our ancestors. Many an hour was taken up rettin up kin( geneology) and the natives ability to go back generations is still amazing to city dwellers. The word lichtsome (pleasant and quietly entertaining) springs to mind to describe the atmosphere. Peat smoke, restit mutton and salt fish hanging above the fire and a way of live revolving around crofting and fishing being lived out in apparent harmony in peerie crofthouses. When visiting and offered a cup of tea, you got the works! Biscuits & cheese, cakes sandwiches and fancies; to the uninitiated it was quite the unexpected feast!
It evokes such a sense of belonging and rootedness to a place, a people and a culture that the modern world forgets and ignores, but for those who remember this it rekindles a desire to find such contentment and rest in our busy lives.
So go on , treat yourself to part of Shetland’s heritage.
Prices range from £650 – 1750 depending on the style of chair and timber used
