The Fortis Green shoeshine team were delighted to receive a silver medal at The Melbourne Design Awards for our full leather, hand made bespoke shoeshine chair.

Standing at over 2 two meters tall it took 16 square meters of leather and over 6 metres of individually welded pieces of steel to make. It features 59 hand made leather buttons and combines the old world upholstery technique of Diamond Buttoning and traditional piping with the hard edge Art Deco period of the 1930's.

Fortis Green commissioned Industrial Designer Craig Willmoth to create a chair that challenged and reinvented what a traditional shoe-shine chair could be. We wanted more than just a generic copy of a shoe shine chair found in a Google image search. We asked him to create a striking, fit for purpose theatre piece, that owned any room, demanded attention and most importantly provided an experience for anyone sitting in it that was not easily forgotten.

Craig used the Shoe shine foot rest to add an Art Deco element to the chair - fusing steel with upholstery. He designed the feet to invoke the ascetic of a 1930's car hood emblem. Using 8ml round mild steel he individually welded each piece together side by side. He then then hand ground the joined pieces to bring the shape of the feet to life and powder coated the finished product. The result is a perfectly symmetrical and ergonomic shoe shining foot rest that speaks to the 1930's, while integrating with the traditional diamond buttoned leather.

Craig used the one metre rule taught to him by his mentor to ensure a person of any height would be able to comfortably sit in the chair and reach the foot-rests. The one metre rule gives a rule of thumb for the most comfortable seating experience. The seat depth is calculated by subtracting the overall height of the seat (from the base), from 1 meter.

We were delighted with the results and proud to see Craig's work recgonised by Driven X Design.