This is Marlene's family taking a well earned cup of tea: from the right: her father beside the dog, grandfather, two aunts and uncle

The Orkney Chair belonged to a lifestyle which gradually disappeared as modern farming methods were introduced. Throughout the centuries until the just after the second world war life remained little changed. Indeed stone cupboards very like those built into the walls of the Skara Brae’s 5000 year old houses can be found in traditional Orkney crofts of the 19th century.

Crofting was a subsistence lifestyle with each family growing the crops and keeping the animals they needed to keep body and soul together and make a small living.

A croft would typically consist of about 10-30 acres, would grow oats and barley, root crops such as turnips and potatoes and keep a few cattle, sheep, hens and a pig. It was free range and virtually organic production with many of the animals as much pets as potential food sources.

Straw came from the oat crop. The process began early in the year with seeds being sown, around September the oats would be cut originally with a sythe and later with a binder into sheaves. These sheaves were then ‘stooked’ or leant against each other to allow the oats to dry and ripen further before before finally carted home and build into scroos. Sheaves were then taken from the screws as they were required, the oats of course being carefully separated and used to feed both the family and the cattle while the straw was to an ingenious variety of uses as chairs, baskets, rope, mattresses and even shoes.

To get the long strong, golden straw preferred by Jackie for his chairs Keith Smith cuts early in the year, around August before the wind has time to damage the stalks. Unlike the people in times gone by it is the straw we are primarily interested in rather than the oat crop. For them it was the other way round, the oats were the most important, with the straw turned to every use conceivably so nothing was wasted.