Chairs that can listen to you

We all know chairs have legs, but did you know they have ears too? A furniture artist and designer in Cork city has just completed a special project that’s well worth a listen.

Geraldine Noonan’s 'Listening Chairs' were created in celebration of pride and equality and to spread the important message 'you are heard'. Geraldine founded Pieces back in 2018, an up-styling, furniture design service offering affordable upcycling, sustainable artisan designs, quirky interior accessories, customised refurbishments, and of course, one-of-a-kind pieces.

Pieces brings life back into old, dusty attic lamps, keepsakes, discarded fabrics and much more.

After starting with the motto 'Don't Throw it Out, Give Me a Shout!', the business took off and Geraldine is now selling her pieces from P Cashell on Winthrop Street, as well as directly from her warehouse on Sarsfield Road.

“Representation is so important to Pieces and I wanted to create a piece of art that would represent me as a creative person while supporting and appreciating the differences around me at the same time.

“I wanted to encapsulate all communities in these ‘listening chairs’, purple being representative of the drag community, blue, white, and pink, trans, and the brown and black, a homage to a broad spectrum of identities. We all have a right to be accepted, to be loved and to be creative,” she said.