Juliana Arm Chair by Hans Wegner.

Chairs: A Designers Joy!

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Chairs From a Personal View

The love affair of modernist designers with the chair provides an abundance of choices to admire.

Chair Sketches by Howard Bosler

Howard Bosler

A WARNING

The following article makes no attempt at an objective look at the chair design by modernists. This is simply a list of some chairs that I admire. I will attempt to give a few reasons for liking the designs, but for one to disagree is almost expected. Not everyone expects to see things the same way, nor should we conclude otherwise.

Also, this list is not to present chair designs in any sort of formal way. These are chairs that I like or provide a good starting point for further ideas. I am sure I could come up with many more to place on a list. I should mention that this list does not necessarily include the well-known designs of the mid-century, but chairs showing what I think is good, solid design that exemplify certain notions of form and layout.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

I might call the ensuing list “principles”, but they mainly fall into the category of likes and preferences. Hopefully, you the reader, will not entirely dismiss them and see some reasonableness in their presentation.

  1. I prefer a modern design with the so-called “clean lines”; that reject unnecessary ornamentation and seeks an overall harmony of materials.
  2. I am less inclined toward pieces that are overly braggadocio; that boasts legs too spiky or twists or inclines that seem improbable; designs that seem as an exercise in shock or awe; designs for design sake as in ars gratia artis. Design should always have a real world basis, not an experiment in pure sculpture.
  3. It should be convertible by changes in design, materials, textures and colors. A good design leads to further creativity.
  4. It should work with other objects, spaces and architecture.
  5. Good chair design is not based upon competitions sponsored by publications and TV media. These sorts of designs generally dismiss good, practical solutions for the “wow” factor. Most of the iconic chairs of the 20th century would be rejected by these groups. This is part of the celebrity culture that has a stranglehold on the arts today.

NOTABLE CHAIR DESIGNS

Plyam Chairs, Yoshizaku Moritake.
Plyam Chairs, Yoshizaku Moritake.

The Plyam Chairs by the Japanese designer Moritake won first prize in the World International Design competition by Andreu World. Even though this chair is not mid-century, it just as easily could be. Bent plywood was a favorite material–mine as well. The straightforward grace of the seemingly one piece of plywood and the lack of unnecessary features symbolizes the essence of modernity. Introduce a great degree of practicality–these chairs stack–and one appreciates the usefulness of these chairs. At a time when almost nothing is new under the sun, these chairs provide an ingenious, unique shape.

MT Club Chair designed by Very Good & Proper for Merchant's Tavern restaurant in Shoreditch, east London, 2013.
MT Club Chair designed by Very Good & Proper for Merchant’s Tavern restaurant in Shoreditch, east London, 2013.

This chair has what I call a “dimorphic” design. Probably not a good word to appropriate from the biological sciences, but this chair has a distinct top and bottom. One can easily replace the legs with all sorts of different configurations, while technically the top can also change. Normally, such chairs vary by the leg types only. We can see such designs in the mid-century with chairs such as those designed by Ray and Charles Eames. For a better look at the MT Club Chair, visit this link.

The MT Club Chair has the nice attribute of lending itself to different materials and fabrics. Something not easily found in many pieces of furniture.

The Pola LC, offered by Crassevig Srl, an Italian company founded in 1969.
The Pola LC, offered by Crassevig Srl, an Italian company founded in 1969.

This is another chair, similar to some mid-century designs, that contain the same qualities of having a top and bottom that lends to all sorts of changes in materials, textures and patterns.

The Shell Chair or CH07 by Hans Wegner, 1963.
The Shell Chair or CH07 by Hans Wegner, 1963.

This classic chair by the famous Danish designer is more fixed in its sculptural form with three legs and the curved, oval seat. Even though I consider this chair “dimorphic”, great difficulty would come from trying to replace or interchange any of its parts or to change the basic material of bent plywood to another substance.

Series 7 Swivel Chair by Arne Jacobsen.
Series 7 Swivel Chair by Arne Jacobsen.

Another famous chair with the ability to use also sorts of materials and supports. This chair comes with legs and arms as well and is produced with all shades of bent plywood and painted hardwoods, plus also in a stool format.

The Famous 40/4 Chair by David Rowland, 1963.
The Famous 40/4 Chair by David Rowland, 1963.

Beautiful, practical and comfortable, the 40/4 is a unified creation that does not vary except in color and metal surface. The 40/4 receives its name from the ability to stack 40 of the chairs in 4 feet of height. Change one fundamental part of the 40/4 and the 40/4 ceases to exist. Even so, visually this chair still has the seat and back as a separate element from the support.

Chair #84/85, style no. 8 by Donald Judd, 1997.
Chair #84/85, style no. 8 by Donald Judd, 1997.

Here one sees a “unimorph” form. (Perhaps I should stop appropriating terms from science and engineering. This term also refers to a cantilever of material in an electric circuit with one active layer and one inactive layer.) This chair consists of one basic design where the seat, the back and support are part of the whole. To illustrate this idea, the Panton Chair most exemplifies the concept:

The Panton Chair, Molded Plastic, Verner Panton, 1960.
The Panton Chair, Molded Plastic, Verner Panton, 1960.

The chair compelled the 20th century designer to experiment and search for that delicate blend of art and practicality, sculpture and usefulness. If a chair is meant to wow once and not be used, then the creating becomes much easier. However, if the object is meant to be used, and even frequently used, the whole endeavor becomes very challenging and exciting.

As seen above, the chair consists of two functions, a seat and a support. Sometimes we might divide or segment the chair between the back and the seat, because the seat and legs or support are unified as one piece. When attacking the design of a chair, one can think of two distinct, but cohesive parts or one unified form. From this point, thousands of results come forward.

 

Ancient Egyptian Chair, The Chair of Hetepheres I, the Mother of Khufu, 4th Dynasty.
Ancient Egyptian Chair, The Chair of Hetepheres I, the Mother of Khufu, 4th Dynasty.

Ancient Greek Chair, Klismos, Shown in Sculpture at the Getty Museum. (This chair appeared many times in western history, from Neo-Classicism to Art Deco.)

American Armchair, Rosewood, Rosewood Veneer, Pine, and Chestnut. Attributed to John Henry Belter, (1850-1863). Part of the Baltimore Museum of Art Collection.
American Armchair, Rosewood, Rosewood Veneer, Pine, and Chestnut. Attributed to John Henry Belter, (1850-1863). Part of the Baltimore Museum of Art Collection.

 

HBosler

Self-Portrait in Watercolor