Eisteddfod Wrecsam 2025 Chair: A truly local work of art

Coal, football, the aqueduct, and the area’s breweries are the inspiration for the craftsmen creating the Eisteddfod Chair, which conveys ‘Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’ in Wrexham.

Gafyn Owen and his business partner Sean Nelson thoroughly researched the history and culture of the Eisteddfod area before presenting their ideas for this prestigious award to local officials.

Gafyn, originally from Bangor, said they quickly identified four key landmarks associated with Wrexham that are important to local residents:

“These four main features — the history of Wrexham’s coal mines, the Froncysyllte aqueduct, the city’s breweries, and their love for the football team — underpin the design and inspired our creative journey to produce the sketch,” he said.

The back of the chair reflects the arch of the Froncysyllte aqueduct.

“The arch will be filled with three glass windows, etched with the full name of the Eisteddfod and any other suitable symbols.

“The window reflects the churches and chapels of the city and possibly also a window into the future of the Eisteddfod. It will be a chair that reflects ‘Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’ in Wrexham.”

Local touches

Gafyn added the top part of the chair takes inspiration from the shape of the roof of the Racecourse Ground, the city’s football stadium.

“These lines are subtle but strong enough to make an impression and nod to the football element, which has clearly gained significant attention in recent years.

“The seat of the chair is also covered in red fabric – the colours of the football team,” he said.

Another important element of the city’s heritage is the coal industry, and the Chair pays tribute to the horrific disaster at Gresford Colliery in 1934.

“We’ve tried to acknowledge this by using the shape of the coal pit wheels, as displayed in the Gresford memorial.

This will reinforce the arms of the chair as a symbol of how the local mining community supported each other over the years following the disaster,” said Gafyn.

Wrexham’s historic breweries are world-renowned, and many of the city’s buildings and architecture reflect the influence of the industry over the years, including the chimney that stands tall in the town centre.

“The front legs of the chair follow the hexagonal shape of the chimney — again, subtle but acknowledging the history. It also marks that the modern Eisteddfod has been held in Wrexham six times before,” said Gafyn.

Success

Gafyn and Sean began work on creating the Chair in their workshop in Flint in the spring.

“The first thing we did was source wood from Erddig near Wrexham. The Chair is as local to Wrexham as it possibly could be,” he said.

The Chair is awarded for an poem or a collection of poems in strict meter (cynghanedd), in more than one traditional form, up to 250 lines, on the theme ‘City’. The judges are Peredur Lynch, Llŷr Gwyn Lewis, and Menna Elfyn. The Chair is presented by the Farmers’ Union of Wales, and the cash prize is provided by Coleg Cambria.

This is the first Chair Gafyn has created for the National Eisteddfod, but the work is not entirely new to him. In the past, he has made several chairs for local Eisteddfodau and schools.

Gafyn and Sean, who live in Gresford, founded their company MijMoj Design in 2012 in a small garage near Gafyn’s parents’ home in Llanfairfechan.

Originally, they built modern, functional furniture, but while selling their cabinets and other items at craft fairs, they spotted a gap in the market for high-quality personalized gifts.

This led the company to grow into a thriving gift business that has sold over 200,000 products online. Their products are prominently featured on online retail sites, and one of their most popular items was showcased on a national TV programme.

The company now employs 14 staff in a large unit at a business park in Flint.