I grew up in a Gustav Stickley Craftsman-style home, which was really beautiful but dark. The front porch, however, was really bright and light. We ate every dinner there in the summer, sitting around a table on a bunch of white director’s chairs, like the one I have now. Some of my best childhood memories are from sitting at that table.

I don’t know exactly which chairs my parents had because so many people make these. I wanted to find the classic, most quintessential, most ubiquitous version. I Googled “director’s chairs,” and there’s a Wikipedia page, and it said who held the first design license, a company called Gold Medal. So I Googled that, and the Chair Store popped up—and they had it! It wasn’t complicated, right? It was just like, that’s so amazing—it’s something that’s survived since 1892. And within two minutes, I was able to find it.

I love objects that have a certain purity to them. And I think this is a great example—a strangely iconic and quiet piece of design that, in a very simple way, fits its need and does it with a lot of style. There’s something concise about it and something that’s just really honest. You look at it and know exactly how it does what it does, and it goes on to do exactly what you think it’s going to do. It’s perfect as is.

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