Kitchener-Waterloo

Old chairs get transformed into works of art by Conestoga students

Second-year interior decorating students from Conestoga College have taken old and unwanted chairs and transformed them into works of art that are being displayed for the first time at the central branch of the Kitchener Public Library.

17 chairs are on display for the first time at the central branch of the Kitchener Public Library

This chair leans on Vincent Van Gogh's style of painting. It's one of 17 chairs that were reupholstered and painted by Conestoga Colleges’s second-year interior decorating students for the CHAIRity project and fundraiser. (Carmen Ponciano/CBC News)

Old and unwanted chairs got an artistic makeover as they were reupholstered and painted by Conestoga Colleges's second-year interior decorating students.

Seventeen chairs are on display for the first time at the central branch of the Kitchener Public Library(KPL), on Queen Street, as part of this year's CHAIRity project and fundraiser.

Squirrell said that the idea was for students to incorporate the style of the painting with the style of the chair. (Carmen Ponciano/CBC News)

"The students were challenged to take an old chair that might have been bound to a landfill or perhaps stuck in a grandparent's attic...and transform it into a new usable upcycle[d] piece of furniture," said Leslee Squirrell, interior decorating program coordinator at Conestoga College who launched the idea in 2012.

This year's theme was famous painters. Squirrell said that the idea was for students to incorporate the style of the painting with the style of the chair.

This Saturday the chairs will be auctioned during the CHAIRity Gala at the central branch of KPL, where proceeds will got to Habitat For Humanity Waterloo Region. (Carmen Ponciano/CBC News )

Then the library matched books of several famous painters with the chairs.

This Saturday the chairs will be auctioned during the CHAIRity Gala at the central branch of KPL, where proceeds will got to Habitat For Humanity Waterloo Region.

This chair was created by Sarah Irvin and Sierra King, inspired by Oscar-Claude Monet. (Carmen Ponciano/CBC News)