St. John’s Chapel, The Kirk of St. Nicholas, Aberdeen

In 1989 Stead was commissioned by the North Sea Oil Industries to design and make the fittings for a new Memorial Chapel in the Kirk of Saint Nicholas Aberdeen. Stead was chosen from a group of seven individuals and companies originally proposed by the SDA. The organisation represents the major companies working in the British sector of the North Sea. This was a huge project in terms of Stead's previous experience and originally involved forty chairs, a lectern, communion table, and a minister’s chair. Later, this extended to include a screen which would divide the chapel from the rest of the Kirk. The requirements of the commission were simple-to provide seating which could be comfortable. It almost every other aspect Stead was given a free hand.

As comfort was paramount, Stead's starting point was to take his most comfortable chair to date and modify it- this was the Skeletal Chair which had a single mast for supporting the back. Stead incorporated two masts into the new design while retaining the original chair’s narrow back. The new design went through at least one prototype before a final design was decided.

The final design for the chairs involved setting different types of wood into two routed channels on the inside of the masts. The different textures and colours are reminiscent of a geological core sample. The initials of the different species spell out the simple message WE REMEMBER YOU.

Walnut.
Elm.

Rowan.
Elm.
Maple.
Elm.
Maple.
Beech.
Elm.
Rowan.

Yew

The screen separating the Chapel wing from the rest of the Kirk was originally to have been of glass. However, this would have involved cutting into the stone pillars. The rood screen with its double doors and vertically adjustable slats invoked the pillared trees of a forest, as well as the pipes of a church organ. The memorial Chapel is now highly popular and is used by many denominations for all types of ceremony, from marriages to christenings. In 1991 the project received the Saltire Society Design Award for Art, Craft and Architecture. The architects for the project were the Jack Fisher partnership, Saint Andrews.

This text is an extract from Explorations in Wood by Giles Sutherland