1media/200203_All-Over-Design_0022.jpg2020-09-18T14:16:33+00:00Layered Legacies13plain2021-05-05T22:56:55+00:00 Teakwook hanging seats were some of the earliest and most distinctive pieces of furniture produced by the Ahmedabad Wood Carving Company. Swings, or jhula, are used in religious celebrations across South Asia and are common in Gujarati homes where different forms of hanging seats are known as hichko, hindolo, and khaat. De Forest was drawn to the hanging seats and elaborate cast-brass chains he saw in the Hutheesing compound in 1881. Thinking this design might be popular on American porches, he organized copies to be made by the Ahmedabad Wood Carving Company.
The hanging seats were a striking feature of de Forest's interiors. This example was commissioned for the renovations of Mary Garrett's Baltimore mansion in 1887 and likely came to Bryn Mawr with Garrett in 1904. The seat was installed in the sitting room of the Deanery until the building was torn down. It was incorporated into the reconstructed Dorothy Vernon Room in Haffner Hall in 1971, where it remained in use until 2014. Its survival is testament to both the quality and its craftsmanship and its continued appeal over 130 years. Through successive relocation and reuse, the hanging seat has accrued layers of meaning and has become an important site of memory for many Bryn Mawr alumnae/i.
The Ahmedabad Wood Carving Company Hanging Seat ca. 1881–1886 Wood, metal Bequest of M. Carey Thomas, President of Bryn Mawr College, 1894–1922 Deanery.363
