Why the chair?
What makes the chair the pre-eminent object in furniture design?
Red Blue Chair c. 1923 by Gerrit Rietveld.
Morocco
The pinnacle of the great art disciplines, it seems to me, is always where the medium interacts with the human form. Architecture is judged in its relation to human scale and how it interacts with patterns of human behaviour.
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Pablo Picasso.
Alberto Giacometti
The human figure has always been the zenith of drawing, painting and sculpture.
Kendi (pouring vessel)
Textiles have their ultimate form when draped on the human body. Ceramics are born of human utility.
So with the chair. Other furniture such as tables, desks and beds are informed by human dimensions but are ultimately simple planes. The chair (with its derivatives like the stool and bench) is the only object that is so intimately intertwined with the human body.
This places demands on the design that don’t exist with other furniture. The relationship is not limited to comfort and good posture. The designer may intend to convey many other feelings and impressions. The chair may be designed to keep the occupant alert or relaxed, to enhance or diminish their status, to be welcoming or dismissive, etc.
In any of these cases however it is necessary to design in the context of understanding the human form. Designing a new chair always requires a full scale (and sturdy) mock-up. There’s no other way to be certain that the finished object will meet the ergonomic goals. Of course the human form varies greatly. When making chairs for a client, the mock-up allows the designer to test their chair against the body of the user. Care must be taken here because what seems to work well on first taking a seat may not be comfortable after sitting for an hour or so.
My first step in designing my ‘Alumni’ chair will be to take some initial dimensions (based on experience and preference) and make a mock-up that will allow me to vary seat height and angle, and the placement and shape of the back and arm rests.
I’ll show some progress towards this in the next chair post.
3 comments October 9th, 2008
