Seen in (Cold Spring) New York: Hockey Stick Chair
by Celine Ruben-Salama, New York, NY 
on 11.27.06
On my way back to the train after a lovely hike on Mount Taurus close to the town of Cold Spring in the Hudson River Valley, I saw this unique chair at a shop on Main Street. Not only is it one of a kind and really quite comfortable, it’s given some old hockey sticks and rope (probably cluttering up someone’s garage) a brand new life! Instead of ending up on a landfill the sticks continue their life in someone’s living room. Creativity combined with environmentalism! Have you seen anything like this? Did you make it? We want to know. Send pics to celine [at] treehugger [dot] com ::
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It doesn't look very good like that, but it could easily be painted, sandblasted or covered with something. Interesting.
Why? Looks cool like that.
Just speaking for myself. To each his own.
It's an adaptation of a traditionnal Nicaraguayan or Honduran design (I forget which). Kudo to whom ever made it.
My wife and I are the proprietors of Bijou Galleries, Ltd., 50 Main Street, Cold Spring, Putnam County, NY.
My son Ethan and I made this chair a few years ago from broken hockey sticks gathered at rinks where Ethan played youth/ high school hockey.
reminds me of my hockey-obsessed college. Sweetest chair ever.
It looks great if you ask me! I am suspecting it is seriously comfortable to sit in too!
Many years back (more than I can remember), my father and I made a chair out of broken hockey sticks salvaged from local ice rinks. After sketching a rough design, we cut the broken wooden sticks into the appropriate lengths, drilled holes, threaded rope through the holes, cinched them tight, and tied it all together. We were going to use a goalie stick as a headrest but the angles were not right. Because there are no screws, the chair is actually quite comfortable - it flexes to fit your body when you sit. The chair began as a fun project, and its rustic elegance has been alluring enough for us to keep it in the family ever since - even though shoppers at my family's antique store in upstate New York, Bijou Galleries, sometimes inquire about purchasing it.
My father and I made the chair more than 10 years ago; I am reeling from the implications of seeing it on a blog today.
Since the idyllic days when my dad and I had time enough to design and build the hockey stick chair I've been working on a myriad of exciting architectural projects which have yet to show up on a blog. Why, then, the fascination with the Hockey Stick Chair? Are environmentally focused blogs missing the big picture? Or am I? Have I abandonded simple, efficient, good design for the allure of big, green, and wasteful architecture? Has my touchstone been sitting in my parents' antique store gathering dust all these years? Perhaps Hockey Stick Chairs have as much to say to this world as does sustainable architecture.
Full text response at Worldchanging/Portland.
As a Canadian green architect who designs furniture, my national pride is shattered- to think that Americans thought of this before I did!
Nice work damn Yankees!
Growing up in northern New England, it was rare to see an outdoor chair that wasn't made out of hockey sticks or skis.
Just wanted to point out that the chair is one of many great things here in Cold Spring.
There are many great hikes and in the summer the River is a wonderful host in these parts.
Please come and visit !
For more information please visit
www.coldspringliving.com
keep up the good work Mother Nature is smiling !
My friend had always wanted to make a hockey stick chair, but after he gather enough sticks he had to move. Leaving all his broken sticks at my house. I saw this picture and thought it to be a good present to make for my friend, needless to say I bulit one just like this this.
I've just envisioned an idea (which someone may have already done) Use goalie (broader) stick portions in a 'fan" pattern for the back and the seat and basically create an "adirondack" type chair.
This would be much more 'honest' than Frank gehry's "hockey" furnitue which is basically bent wood a la Aalto, and would actually earn LEED points through EB 2.0 re-use - and most importantly, look very cool and be visually fun (different logos,etc.)
Also - how about using OSB for actual hockey sticks - I'm sure there's a way to adjust camber and flex - they do for LVL's and beams...
LEED points everywhere...
Monty - Green Designer - Missoula, MT.
Whoever thinks this needs sandblasting or painting is a lunatic. By "lunatic" I mean not a hockey fan and really has no business critiquing a chair made out of said sticks.
Look at the brands and look at what they're made out of. These are antiques and there is so much story and history in the brands, names and wood.
Great stuff.
Over the next few years chassis development in the junior formulas will be fascinating. The success of Ligier and Mygale in F3 is forcing the tectonic plates of the single-chassis formula apart, and surely it can only be a matter of time before other marques attempt to enter cars into GP2 or WSR.