Kareem

[JR]

I was just watching g a special on HBO about Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Near the end they showed a few clips of his farewell tour around the NBA. Red Auerbach gave him a piece parquet, which was very touching.

Finally at home in LA he was given a rocking chair. At the time it happened I thought it kind of cute, but a bit underwhelming. Looking at the show tonight I realized it was a Maloof custom made for Kareem. I'm now officially impressed.

[leehljp]

I often wondered if the Maloof chairs were made to one or two specific sizes or if they custom tailored to individual clients. I would love to see the Kareem chair up beside a "normal" size Maloof chair.

[atgcpaul]

Yes, Maloof built his chairs custom to each client. He said so on the tour of his house! Now I don't remember if that meant the customer provided their height (and maybe their width) and he worked from some scale he developed over time, but I'd imagine for the price they're paying, they could both afford to make the trip and do an exact measurement if needed.

[durango dude]

my son goes to college in Claremont, and I went by the Maloof house.

I admire Maloof ----- but I'm just awed by one thing ---- in all the videos I've seen
of him ----- I've never seen a measuring device! I just don't know how he does it!
The book on him shows him kneeling on the floor with a piece of chalk ----- drafting out templates.
It's incredible something so unambiguously fine ---- came from something that's just so simple.

[All Thumbs]

Fitted? You bet.

The chair.

[JR]

Nice pic! Notice how readily Kareem's hand fall onto the beautifully shaped arms.

[leehljp]

my son goes to college in Claremont, and I went by the Maloof house.

I admire Maloof ----- but I'm just awed by one thing ---- in all the videos I've seen
of him ----- I've never seen a measuring device! I just don't know how he does it!
The book on him shows him kneeling on the floor with a piece of chalk ----- drafting out templates.
It's incredible something so unambiguously fine ---- came from something that's just so simple.

That chair was definitely tailored to him!

Somewhere in Maloof's book, there is an excerpt from a discussion he had with an apprentice that went something like this: Maloof was starting to drill the holes into the seat. He placed his drill bit at a place and and an angle without any measurements. The apprentice asked Maloof: "Do you have crosshairs in your eyes?"