Mother, there’s only one, that’s what this is about. I wanted a chair for breastfeeding, a chair for the mother. The grandmother’s chair made in Tucurinca. We prototyped it eagerly but slowly, in short and intense bursts. In the end, the MADRRE didn’t turn out to be a rocking chair, but it is indeed a very comfortable armchair.
All the rod bending is done by hand. The curves and angles are not perfect, but they work, and the chairs look good. You have to know how to use your “ojímetro” (a visual estimate); it’s a key tool in the neighborhood workshops. We buy rods, bend them, weld, paint, and weave; we do it all. Angular bends work well with our production times, and we achieve more precision with less effort and less reliance on the “eye-meter”. That’s why we decided on precise and closed bends, without curves, for the MADRRE. We make an effort to play to our strengths; our factory is small, and we are few, so we have to make good use of our time and resources.
In the original models from the streets of Santa Marta (and the Caribbean in general), there’s a very recognizable rocking chair with a headrest. They are full-body chairs and are so comfortable that you can take a nap in them. A chair for a siesta after a hearty meal.
Text and photography by Rafael Zúñiga, the man from Tucurinca // @pase_bonito.
