{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1548825"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1548825/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2022NC8035/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2022NC8035/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2022NC8035","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1548825/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1548825","accessionNumber":"E.3-2021","objectType":"Design","titles":[{"title":"Design for the Akuaba dining chair","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Huren Marsh was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1951 and moved to the UK in 1967. He designed the Akuaba chair in 1985, while studying furniture and product design at Kingston University in Greater London. In opposition to the general trend for Memphis and Post-Modern design of the time, Marsh instead took inspiration from French Art Deco, European Cubism and the African objects on display in the Museum of Mankind (now part of the British Museum) and the publication <i>African Sculpture Speaks</i> by Ladislas Segy (1952). The name of the chair suggests that its design derives from the akua’ba figures of Ghana. These are carved wooden fertility figures that are carried by women hoping to conceive. They are characterised by their large, disk-like heads, abstracted horizontal arms and cylindrical torsos – features which are apparent in the form of the chair. \n\nThe chair was part of Marsh's undergraduate degree show and displayed in the exhibition, “Design at Kingston: Work by students of the School of Three-Dimensional Design at Kingston Polytechnic”, shown at the V&amp;A in 1984. The design incorporates a central, sprung lumbar support influenced by ergonomic principles to nudge the sitter into the correct postural position. ","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Huren Marsh","id":"AUTH356397"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"tracing paper","id":"AAT14161"},{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"},{"text":"Drawings","id":"THES48966"},{"text":"Africa","id":"THES49019"},{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2022NC8035"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLC","id":"THES49171"},"free":"","case":"CAT","shelf":"6","box":"D"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"designs","id":"AAT102051"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1985","earliest":"1985-01-01","latest":"1985-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Huren Marsh","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Design for the Akuaba Dining Chair by Huren Marsh, ink on tracing paper, London, 1985","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.3-2021"],"accessionNumberNum":"3","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2021,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-05","recordCreationDate":"2020-11-26","availableToBook":false}}