BID FOR UKRAINE

Silent Charity Auction Open Today

Hybrid Strawberry Tree Chair and Companion Stool 

With lockdown and the disruption and trauma of the Covid pandemic behind us, in February 2022, a few days after Storm Eunice had ripped through London, Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine and a new sense of chaos and destruction hung over us all once again. 

Mark Harvey, a local man, walked through storm ridden Battersea Park and saw that significant branches of the massive Strawberry Tree*, Arbutus xAndrachnoides, had been brought down. A London landmark, it is one of only eight of these majestic old trees in England and was the tallest in the country. 

*The much-reduced trunk of the spectacular Hybrid Strawberry Tree, survived the ravages of storm Eunice and continues to grow at the south west corner of the Ladies Pond in Battersea Park.

Having walked past and admired it for over 25 years, Harvey said that he was inspired to “make something useful of it, from the broken limbs” as he felt sure “they would otherwise just become firewood”.

Harvey explains: “The boughs, many of them bent in contorted shapes, almost bending 90 degrees, looked like they might make a chair. I like it when the timber shape dictates the final design. So, I fashioned the wood while still green, using only hand tools and assembled the chair, together with the small bench, sometime later. The mortices were cut deep to give the chair strength and were pegged with beech dowels. It is the wonkiest looking chair I’ve ever made” 

The familiar park had been ravaged by storm Eunice, making him acutely aware of the destruction taking place in Ukraine and he determined that he would sell whatever he created from the fallen timber and give ALL THE PROCEEDS directly to a charity that works there.

So, being local and having noticed that we had been fundraising in association with Dimas Ukrainian Vodka, for Anna Shevchenko’s just giving page, which sends critical medical supplies directly to the front line, he rang our bell and asked if we sold contemporary furniture.

We loved the story. A sensitive and creative self-taught carpenter, making something out of nothing, in a unique vernacular style, which respects the qualities and history of the locally sourced materials and with the intention of helping others.

So yes, now we do sell contemporary furniture.

100% of the sale price will go directly to Anna’s crowdfunding charity raising money for critical medical supplies for the Ukrainian people who are fighting for their lives, the future of their country and for freedom.

The chair and companion stool that mark Harvey was inspired to create are now on exhibition in our Gallery window and are offered for sale by Silent Auction (without reserve). Bidding opens at 10am today, Tuesday 18th March, and closes at midnight on Sunday 23rd March 2025. Throughout the running of the auction, Dima’s Vodka shots will be available at the Gallery for anyone who drops in to see us for to view the chair!

BIDDING IS NOW CLOSED

- THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR BIDS AND DONATIONS -