Hot Take: Every legit skier needs a set of ski chairs.
Some time around 1996, I rounded a corner at a ski show and saw a chair made out of Volant skis.
It looked like a throne.
I was probably sixteen. I remember vividly staring at it and then realizing I absolutely had to have one. That was it for me but it took me almost 30 years from that day to make it happen.
At ski shops, restaurants, mountain towns—if I see one, I sit in it. A ski chair is one of those things that makes no sense to people outside the sport and complete sense to people who get it. They aren’t subtle, they don’t “blend in to your broader aesthetic”, they don’t “go with” some thing you found at home goods. Ski Chairs are a declaration, an expression of function and appreciation for your sport.
On a recent trip to Colorado, I stopped by Colorado Ski Furniture in Manitou Springs. Their shop is full of retired skis: great graphics, bright colors, classic shapes, and designs from all kinds of ski eras.
For a skier, it’s an epic anthology of gear serving as a portal to the winters of the past. .
I worked with the Colorado Ski Furniture team remotely over a few weeks to design two custom chairs and a small table. We talked through colors, concepts, and ski options until we landed on the right mix.
The finished chairs are fantastic.
I am colorblind, so bright colors have always been a big part of skiing for me. I love old ski graphics—the neon, the bold designs, the skis that immediately make you think of a certain year or a certain ski shop wall. These chairs have all of that.
That is what makes them so good. They are ski culture on display.
The colors. The graphics. The brands. The shapes. A set of old skis tells you something about the time it came from. Colorado Ski Furniture takes that history and turns it into something you can use every day.
It is not just a chair with skis on it. It is skiing in your house. Put one in a ski room, on a porch, in a basement, at a cabin—wherever you want a reminder that winter is coming.
Every legit skier needs a set.
Colorado Ski Furniture has already finished chairs ready to go, and they can also help put together something custom. I am glad we went custom. The process was easy, the team was great, and the final product is exactly what I hoped for.
I still have one final-boss project left: a ski chair swing in the backyard. That will happen eventually and these guys will be the ones to do that for me too.
For now, these chairs are on a truck headed our way. I have only seen the finished photos, but they look incredible. I cannot wait to see them in person, get them set up, and finally enjoy my own.
— BG
If you want your own set check out their stuff at www.coloradoskifurniture.com. Or check out their stuff on facebook.
