Gregor Taul_Velbri Chair Presentation
When EKA moved into its new building, the Sukavabrik, in 2018, the Department of Interior Architecture had to leave behind its teaching building on Nunne Street, where we had been based for decades. They say that moving is worse than a fire. And so it was, because over the years, a huge collection of drawings, paintings, models, furniture, material samples, documents, and publications had accumulated in the old building—none of which could be preserved or fit into the new building.
Fortunately, we found a room in the EKA building on Raja Street that we were able to use as a sort of temporary storage space during the transition. As is often the case with such spaces, things tend to get left there or even forgotten. Nothing has happened there for the past four or five years.
In the 2025/2026 academic year, we will tackle the department’s “storage,” catalog and examine everything that has accumulated there, identify the authors of these works, and most importantly—can these objects and materials be reused?
To start with, we brought 12 chairs designed by Edgar Velbri during the Soviet era to the EKA main building—a chair that interior architects who studied and taught on Nunne Street remember well.
We “gifted” these chairs to the students who had just started their first year of studies; their task was to restore them, care for them throughout their studies, and then pass them on to the next cohort of students upon graduation. Cleaning the chairs, taking them apart, repairing and replacing parts, and painting them took place under the guidance of woodworking shop masters Avo Tragel and Oliver Kanniste. For the students, this was a great opportunity to learn about the possibilities offered by the woodworking shop on the one hand, and to try their hand at working with furniture on the other, just before they began designing their very first chair.
