Chairs........ Mission Accomplished!

awesome absolutely awesome!!!

Vaughn McMillan said:

That's just too cool for words, Stu. I'm with Art...this is your chance to run away and join the circus! I'd do it, but I don't handle heights well.

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I agree! You have the skills to handle anything they could throw at you. Great job, it was exciting to read how they responded to your work!

Very well done Stu.

I cannot think of a better sign of how much you have delighted them than the offer of a job.

I will be surprised if they need more chairs and dont get them from you. My bet is there could be a bunch of other items that you get to build for them too at some stage.

My guess is you exceeded their expectations.

Stu, last night I kept thinking about those darn chairs of yours. I can't imagine, I have failed to attempt a chair due to my own concerns about it staying together while someone sits on it. You build chairs that people are stacking way in the air and suspending their bodies doing stunts!! My stomach would need a surgeon to untie the knots in it after that first experiment!!! Great job!!!!!!!!

Gee, Stu, it is every kid's dream to run away and joint the circus. And your offer is for the top of the heap - Cirque du Soleil. Are you sure Emiko wouldn't want to perform too - she is pretty enough to be a headliner?

Are you sure we are talking about the same piece apparently protruding from the upper chairs - see my arrows - That is a pretty big handle for a 1 mm thick shim! Which is why I thought it might be something used to "deliver" the chair to the performer.

Wow - I hadn't been following this thread but happened to go back and read it. What an amazing story. Thanks, Stu, for posting that.

And what a responsibility in building the chairs! In most cases, a person might feel a chair wobble, or if the chair collapsed they'd fall on the floor. If these guys have a chair failure, it could kill them.

Great story.

Mike

Jonathan Shively said:

Stu, last night I kept thinking about those darn chairs of yours. I can't imagine, I have failed to attempt a chair due to my own concerns about it staying together while someone sits on it. You build chairs that people are stacking way in the air and suspending their bodies doing stunts!! My stomach would need a surgeon to untie the knots in it after that first experiment!!! Great job!!!!!!!!

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Well Jonathan, I did not build these chairs, they were built, using the term very loosely, in China by someone who was supposed to be a good builder, but somewhere along the line they dropped the ball, badly. I fixed the chairs, or I brought them up to a level where they could be used. Yeah, it scared the beans out of me watching these amazing two guys up there, but they really had confidence in their skills and in mine.

Nice feeling

Charlie Plesums said:

Gee, Stu, it is every kid's dream to run away and joint the circus. And your offer is for the top of the heap - Cirque du Soleil. Are you sure Emiko wouldn't want to perform too - she is pretty enough to be a headliner?

Are you sure we are talking about the same piece apparently protruding from the upper chairs - see my arrows - That is a pretty big handle for a 1 mm thick shim! Which is why I thought it might be something used to "deliver" the chair to the performer.

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Yes, those are shims, I cut them on my bandsaw, they are about 0.5 mm thick and 5cm wide by 40cm long, I expected them to cut the shims and just put a piece in, but they just used the whole piece, who was I to argue

The coach asked me to please cut up a bunch more stock that thin, he'd never seen wood sliced so thin, as he liked the idea of using the same wood as the chairs are made from instead of pieces of paper or cardboard.

To add to the story, I was talking to the project manager today on the phone, he is writing up an after action report and needed to pick my brain about some details. He told me that when they need a new set of chairs, they will just about for sure come to me, the artists and coach trust my work, and the rest of the crew do as well, so why go anywhere else? Trust and confidence in the chairs is very key to the artist, if they cannot trust the chairs, they cannot do the act.
The interesting thing is this will most likely not happen in the short term, most likely in a year or so, when the tour finishes up in Japan, they do a short tour of Asia, then they are off to Europe. When in Europe, they would most likely want to integrate a new set of chairs into the show. I commented that this was too bad, as I'd like to be there when the new chairs have their final fit with the artist, the project director sounded surprised, he said "Oh, of course you will be there, we'll fly you and your wife out to the tour so you can do that work, then have a mini vacation if you like...."

I like

Still all up in the air, but that is a likely scenario.

Cheers!

Just finishing off the rest of this thread. Totally cool. Way to go. And hope you get the contract for a new set.

Stu, what a cool accomplishment! Great work, and I hope you get the contract for building the new set!

Hutch

Many congratulations Stu, what a great adventure you
have had. Oh! and the probability
of more to come.
Now get your bench sorted for round two.