Pair of Iroko Beninois balançoires by rural carpenter 1980, marquetry, W.African

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With massive sadness I am putting these two chairs up for sale..... In 1979 I moved to live in a tiny African village called Bohicon in R.P. Benin in West Africa. My husband was building agricultural feeder roads for the World Bank, to enable local farmers to get the produce to market. It was a tough year with no TV, no radio, no papers, no magazines, and mud hut neighbours! We became very fond of the locals folk who worked on the job, and then when it came time for us to leave, they clubbed together and the carpenter, (Paul le menuisier [carpenter]) handmade these two chairs especially for us as a leaving present. The plain one was my husband's, and the one with marquetry is my one. I had a French Mobylette when I was there, which I hired off one of the workmen, and the marquetry on my chair represents "Madame" on her mobylette zipping around night and day! The chairs are large and heavy, and we had to have a wooden crate made especially for us to be able to ship these chairs back to the UK at great expense! They are called 'balançoires' and are designed to balance at any position you want to, between upright sitting, to almost lying flat. The canvas slings are held in place with wooden poles which thread through channels at each end of the sling. The sling must be just the right length in order to get the balancing to work properly. I have replaced the slings about 5 times - just buy regular deckchair fabric by the metre and copy the length of the existing piece, and sew channels in the ends. These new slings were only put on 2 years ago and haven't been used so should have a good few years left in them. The wood is iroko. Iroko is a large hardwood tree from the west coast of tropical Africa that can live up to 500 years. The tree is known to the Yoruba as ìrókò, logo or loko and is believed to have supernatural properties. Iroko is known to the Igbo people as oji wood. It is one of the woods sometimes referred to as African teak, although it is unrelated to the teak family. The wood colour is initially yellow but darkens to a richer reddish brown over time. Completely hand made with rude tools and no electricity, Paul must have spent literally hours and hours and hours making these fantastic chairs after work. I can't quantify the guilt I feel at parting with these chairs after nearly 40 years, their having been made so lovingly and carefully and especially for us, and mine having the personal marquetry. I have in the past rubbed down the wood and treated it, so it's all in lovely, beautiful condition. There is a good-sized footrest on each chair, and good, solid arm rests. They can be simply folded for storing, by slipping the sides out of their slots, and pulling the top and bottom together. I had no children when I received these, then had three kids in 4 years, and still have the chairs now the children are in their 30s. No doubt the balancing mechanism could pose a danger to a child, but the chairs are easily fixed in an upright position by simply putting a man's trouser belt looped through the rear bars and buckled tight, thus preventing the chairs from reclining. Mine soon learned how to work the chairs and loved sitting in them, and never once hurt themselves. Perfect for a big conservatory, sun room, orangery, or verandah. Not suitable for leaving outside, apart from in the summer with a cover over them to protect them from rain. Mine have been in a conservatory, and now are in a spare bedroom. I'm selling them because I'm getting older now, and am clearing out my house as much as I can as I plan to move to a little place next year. My current house doesn't have a conservatory so they aren't used now. None of my three children can have them - one's house is too tiny and the other two don't have their own places. I hope that whoever buys them will treasure them and care for them. I'd hoped they'd become heirlooms but unless they don't sell, this isn't going to be the case.