Sitting on Glass

When I first saw this chair made of 96 glass jars He also switched from baby food jars — which

Photography by Jeff Baird

I immediately summed it up as aesthetics over he found too grueling to collect, sort, and clean
function. It was beautiful, but no way could that — to Flint Sample Jars, which he could simply
glistening thing be comfortable. Then I sat in it and purchase in bulk.
proved myself wrong. It’s shocking how cozy so When I asked Swing if he considers himself a
much glass can be. crafter or an artist, he seems reluctant to directly
As a Vermont steel-welder-turned-artist, Johnny answer the question. Instead he says, “What makes
Swing crafts found objects into practical works of art is something that expands your intellect, and
art. He’s known for his Nickel Couch (above), made that’s why the chairs are not strictly a craft. When
with over 6,400 welded nickels, and his elegant you look at the Jar Chair, you’re forced to ask ques-
chandeliers made of glass jars and satellite dishes. tions, and in some ways be enlightened through the
He was inspired to create his Jar Chair when he experience. Like, ‘I’m going to sit on glass?’ or ‘How
noticed his son’s baby food jars piled into garbage can this be comfortable?’”
bags, waiting to be recycled. “They seemed too With impeccable welding skills and an amazing
precious to discard. They were jewel-like.” eye for design, I’d say Swing straddles the worlds of
It took Swing six weeks of intense design testing both art and crafting quite exquisitely.
to come up with a formula for the chair, one that —Carla Sinclair
incorporates a hole pattern on aluminum sheets
onto which he bolts the metal lids before screwing >>Obsessive Furniture: johnnyswing/ furniture.shtml
on the jars. “The final product looks
design-engineered, but it wasn’t. It was just tested
over and over again.”