TXS Armchair to the White House designed by Mats Theselius

TXS armchair designed by Mats Theselius
donated to the White House

In connection with President George W Bush visit in Sweden, Business Region Gothenburg* joined with five of the region’s leading companies in presenting the TXS Armchair to the White House.

*Chalmers University of Technology, Ekman & Co AB, Mölnlycke Healthcare AB, Victor Hasselblad AB, Volvo Cars AB

Since his debut at the end of the 1980s Mats Theselius has received worldwide acclaim for his personal and exclusive armchairs. Most of his earlier armchairs are produced in limited series. Today all are sold. Consequently, during the last few years he has been asked to produce unique pieces of furniture. In order to make this possible he has produced a basic, variable frame, a classic form and therefore a useful starting point depending on the client´s requirements.

This is the first display of an armchair made in collaboration with some of the best Western style craftsmen. There is something playful about the idea of cowboys, and Western style is still a living and rich tradition through for example film and fashion. The leatherwork is by saddler John Simon from Arkansas and Dale Harris in Wyoming has done the silver work.

Traditional craftsmanship in the form of everyday objects is a major source of insiration to Theselius. Material and techniques vary but the desire to communicate, to transport thoughts with the help of objects, to see beyond “the here and now”, and beyond triviality is the same the world over.

Mats Theselius has the ability to use both the machine and the talent of the hand. When thinking in terms of reproducibility one often excludes the possibilities that lies in craftmanship, but in this piece of furniture these possibilities are exploited and become Mats Theselius´ finest tools.

The individual and personal choice is important to Mats Theselius. The hand-made, the exclusive that bears traces of human activity, of love for things and that, which says something about the quality of the original. “I try to charge the objects with value by the choice of material, the expression and above all that which in some abstract way has meaning for the owner of the chair.”

The Western style armchair is a commission and is only one example of how this chair can be made. Here Mats Theselius has materialized his uncompromising position on craftsmanship and his idea of the armchair as a solitaire.