This Set included the Altar, Presiders chair, Ambo (Pulpit, Lectern), gift table, Tabernacle stand and statuary stand. Father Bill Brown OMV Provincial commissioned the work. We wanted the altar set design to compliment the original architectural details in the room. For the most part, the room is circular, so my first design had the altar with a radius. I then built two full scale model's, one rectangular and one curved. We decided to match the wall detail that was going to be seen behind the altar itself which was flat. Once the size and shape were established. Several drawings were then made to come up with a completed the design. I went on to build and deliver the altar before designing the rest of the furniture. It was important to see it in the chapel rather than conceptually on paper and CAD. The two stands were designed as scaled down modifications of the altar and were quite simple to design.

The presiders chair was more difficult to design and build than any of the other furnishings. The Chapel chairs and kneelers were already purchased so I needed to match the color but didn't want to match the style. I set out to make this altar set extraordinary and the chair was the key to achieving this goal. Having studied great chairs and chair makers at museums for decades, it was clear that this chair would have to rival what many consider to be works of art. This meant working out joinery problems first which led to building a full scale model chair made out of solid oak. I brought this model to the chapel to see it in the actual space and next to the altar where we made some modifications. Building a model chair was a great deal of work when you consider that only a single chair was being made from it. The design was improved from this model however and it was a couple of long weeks before the final one was complete and ready to finish. 

While building the chair I was also working out the design of the ambo. This was the piece of furniture that would unify the vastly different design elements between the altar and presiders chair. The altar was designed to be monumental for the work to be done upon it. The chair however serves a completely different purpose and is designed to compliment, contour and emulate the human form. The ambo (lectern) was designed with elements from both the chair and alter. Each piece of furniture stands up on its own, in regards to design, both individually or combined in a set. 

Most companies would only put this type of effort into a furniture set for the purpose of developing a production line based on that design. Too much time and money are put into a complicated design for only one build. Its extremely cost prohibitive or otherwise its intended as art or hobby This particular set design would ultimately lead to only one other alter set before retiring the design. What the original effort led to has been enlightening. I will however continue to build chairs of a similar nature, perhaps a bit more refined.