The colours, and where their names come from

The palette is in two halves. Seven are the colours of the shore — the woods and stones and water the chair sits among — and seven are the colours of the things people bring to it: paint, boats, flags, flowers.

The shore

• Cedar — the wood the original chairs were made of, at the moment it looks best, kept there. Cedar
• Walnut — the dark hardwood nobody would leave outside, made so you can. Walnut
• Sand — the dry sand at the top of the beach. Sand
• Taupe — the colour of a granite patio and a lot of modern siding. Taupe
• Harbour Grey — the water against a harbour wall on an overcast morning; also, exactly, five-year-old cedar. Harbour Grey
• Light Grey — driftwood in full sun. Light Grey
• Dark Grey — wet slate, and a composite deck board. Dark Grey

What people bring

• Black — the window frames on every new build. Black
• White — the porch, and the paint that always needed doing again. White
• Blue — the lake on the first hot day. Blue
• Red — the boathouse door. Red
• Yellow — the one chair in the photograph. Yellow
• Green — the spruce in shade. Green
• Purple — because somebody asked. Purple

All fourteen are the same price, made in the same run, and pigmented through the board so the shade you choose is the shade it stays.