The Best Sketching Chair - An Update

This is an UPDATE about the availability of the Phillips Folding Chair which I use for plein air work.  I've written previously about it

• on Making a Mark - In praise of my sketching chairs
• on Making A Mark Reviews - in a more detailed Product Review: Phillips De Luxe Folding Chair which also provided additional tips about travelling with a folding chair

I cannot recommend this chair highly enough for people who want a very good quality chair which will be robust, reliable and longlasting.

• plus highlighted the chair on my Pastels and Pencils website in the Sketching Chair - Phillips Folding Chair part of the section on Art Materials & Other Resources for Artists.

My Phillips Folding Chair on a trip to sketch Walden Pond in Massachusetts in 2006

A Reader's Query

This morning I got an email from a reader of Making A Mark which asked as follows

I've followed and loved your blog for quite a while. Now I have the opportunity to do a 10-day workshop pastel near Avignon in Oct. 2013 and am looking for a portable, comfy travel chair with back support. On your "what I pack when I travel" post you mentioned such a chair. Please can you share the brand? I'm in the U.S. but perhaps could find it over here.

I took a look at the two links I'd previously provided to supplier in the references above and found that neither now led to a live website - partly because both suppliers have updated their websites!

Here then is an update which goes along the lines of first the bad news and then the good news.

I'm setting out the situation as per the different suppliers I know have had it in stock in the past

Green & Stone

This is how Green & Stone list the chair on their Portable chairs and stools page

Phillips Folding Chair

This product is currently unavailable Lightweight metal frame with strong canvas seat and back. Two heights

Lo Luxe Chair | Weight 1.48kg

Seat height : 40cm

62.30

De Luxe chair | Weight 1.6kg

Seat height : 45cm

63.25

That means they do NOT have a folding chair with back support in stock.  They do however have three stools by Phillips available.  I'd certainly recommend Phillips as a good quality brand if you can get on with only having a stool.

Heaton Cooper

Since I last wrote about this chair Heaton Cooper have introduced a super duper new website for art materials and supplies.  This has a Seat Easels, Chairs and Stools page.  This does not have my Phillips Folding Chair - in its original incarnation - either.

Phillips Bag Chair - available at Heaton Cooper

However what it does have is the Phillips Bag Chair - listed as costing £54.50. The product description indicates the following:

• Tubular aluminium frame, compact and easily portable with a shoulder strap.
• Spacious integral bag with zipped side pocket.
• Seat height 18 inch (46 cms), In green Cordura fabric

Which means it keeps the tubular aluminium frame and the green cordura fabric (which is very strong).  The seat height is slightly higher (presumably to accommodate the bag).

I can't find any other supplier online for this product - so if you're after a very reliable sketching chair with a back, then I suggest you give this product a review. The Heaton Cooper Website also allows you to Send To A Friend | Add to Wish List if you want to bookmark this for future reference.

If you balk at the price, I'd just comment I have taken mine on several long haul international trips involving all sorts of carriers and apart from arriving a day late (to my door) on both American trips, it has had absolutely no mishaps.

and finally......

You too can ask me a question and I'll answer it to the best of my ability - or refer you to a person who can!