Chairing the Woman’s Role
Transitions, designed by Ella Bulley and manufacted by Wassaman Ltd, 2023 (image: courtesy of Ella Bulley).
“What’s that on the bath mat? Boobs. Sprouting from your planter? More boobs. Painted on the new china? Gilded nipples.”
In 2017, journalist Hannah Martin wrote about the boom she’d noticed in “Boobs (and other previously unmentionables)” that had begun “budding from decorative objects left and right,” in her Architectural Digest piece ‘How Boobs (and Other Parts of Women’s Bodies) Became a Design Trend’. Boobs’ popularity in design, Martin suggested, grew from an empowering movement in which “a range of female artists and designers” had “begun objectifying their bodies on their own terms.” Seven years later, boobs are still absolutely everywhere, and the trend of design and the female form intersecting has long been commercialised, milked and taken to market by swathes of larger companies cashing in on a boob- and body-proud momentum.
Within this context, any new project about the female form doesn’t seem as radical or revolutionary as it once might have. And while I love the number of objects celebrating women’s bodies that have come into the world since 2017 (and earlier), I wonder whether it is still possible to tell new stories through contemporary objects informed by women’s forms?
Nurture (image: courtesy of Ella Bulley).
Answering this question with a gentle but resounding “yes” is Transitions, a collection of three sculptural chairs by Ella Bulley, a British-born Ghanaian designer and artist. Bulley’s pieces are subtle in the manner they explore the female form, gentle in their celebration and references in a way that their commercial counterparts are not. Bulley says that she focuses on “seeing beauty in the forms that may be overlooked, such as the curve of calf muscles, or a posture that indicates assertiveness and boldness.” It is these shapes and stances that influence the forms of her furniture and, in paying attention to the overlooked, there is an act of reshaping the story told about bodies.
“I find that the female body is one of the most beautiful creations on earth, not just in its aesthetic but in its function and ability to adapt,” says Bulley. It is in this exploration of function that Bulley’s work departs even further from the zeitgeist of how women’s bodies are represented. Transformations celebrates form but also interrogates, represents and tells stories about women’s roles and positions in society, specifically focusing on the context of Ghana. “While my work may be included with other designers that take literal celebrations of the female form,” reflects Bulley, she stresses that, “it doesn't entirely fit into just that box.”
“I find that the female body is one of the most beautiful creations on earth, not just in its aesthetic but in its function and ability to adapt.”
Detail of Nurture (image: courtesy of Ella Bulley).
Each stool in Transitions highlights “a story about women and the rites of passage” at different stages of their lives, explains Bulley. Take, for example, Nurture, the first stool in the series. It resembles a figure with arms outstretched, almost as if the chair were beckoning you towards it for a hug. The seat of the chair forms its seemingly outstretched arms and Bulley explains that “when you sit in the chair, it cradles you.”
Behind this charming form are nuanced observations that Bulley began collecting as she spent time in the streets and markets of Accra. Based between Ghana and England, Bulley is attuned to the differences in women’s roles and behaviour between these countries. “I encountered scenes that are rarely seen in the UK, but were the norm in Ghana,” she says, “like the ability for a woman, in all her femininity, to nurture a child whilst in the midst of running a business.” Observing women “nursing their child and, at the same time, counting money or making business decisions,” explains Bulley, became the inspiration behind the chair.
Adolescence (image: courtesy of Ella Bulley).
Transitions deliberately focuses on “re-introducing pre-colonial ideology that promotes the importance of the female position with the Ghanaian cultural and social landscape,” says Bulley. But at the same time it consciously steers away from the manner in which “African women within the western world have had their bodies hyper-sexualised, policed, and commodified,” she explains, further expressing frustration at the contradiction that these “standards of beauty also isolate these forms of bodies from what is seen as desirable.” She hopes to reclaim the female form from “these ideologies of aesthetics” by going behind the physical to tell new stories.
As such, Bulley's second chair Adolescence tells the story of the passage of time in which a girl grows into a woman and the passing on of knowledge that occurs at this point in life. The chair resembles a “big bass drum” says Bulley, which symbolises the “wisdom and knowledge passed forward from your ancestors, being your mother, your grandmothers, your great grandmothers”. The back of the chair, shaped like a tongue, nods to the oral transmission of information and know-how. The base is solid, weighted to the ground. Bulley says the forms were chosen to convey the importance of “parents’ experiences to guide you, to keep you firm and deep rooted.”
Spirituality (image: courtesy of Ella Bulley).
Moving to a different stage of life, the final chair, Spirituality, speaks of the moment when a woman has “reached that heightened awareness of wisdom,” reflects Bulley, and celebrates the "spiritual nature of women.” This chair references the belief systems of the Ga people, of the Ga-Adngbe group of Kwa people of Ghana, that priestesses called Woyei are the messengers between the spiritual and physical worlds: “Only women have the power to do this,” explains Bulley. The upright back of the chair squiggles upwards from its seat, leading the viewer’s attention towards the sky; the legs mimic calf muscles; and the full structure of the chair mirrors a posture that Bulley noticed time and time again when looking at women in her parent’s photo albums: “Their backs are upright, and their legs are slightly apart.” Creating the stool based on that position, Bulley says, “was an idea of strength, but spirituality as well.”
Not only are these chairs functional objects for sitting on, but ones that tell stories – an alternative, parallel, function for furniture that is often overlooked by the furniture and design industries. They are for sitting, but also celebrating; for perching, but also imbuing meaning; for relaxing into, but also symbolising.
Detail of Spirituality (image: courtesy of Ella Bulley).
The chairs aim to be “still soft, but strong” says Bulley, and currently exist as one-off pieces – a family of three women. However, their story is yet to be finished as Bulley has continues to think about the topic of the female form. Their future is undefined. Bulley says that she could imagine them in a gallery or home, either as a family or going their separate ways, or perhaps even becoming part of a bigger family in the future through a larger production of Transformations. For now, however, this self-initiated and self-funded project is a way for Bulley to ask who are we, as women today, and how should we, and can we, be represented?
Words Lara Chapman
Photographs Daniel Attoh