A Short History of Chairs

by Graham Blackburn

The simple definition of a chair as a movable seat, with a back, for a single person gives no indication of the truly vast
range of objects that qualify under this description. Furthermore, few people today are aware of the fact that for much
of its history -- and chairs go back through classical times to the time of the pharaohs — the chair was reserved for
kings, lords, and bishops; ordinary folk sat on backless chests, benches, or stools.

The word chair derives from the Latin cathedra, hence the designation of a church that was the seat of a bishop as a
cathedral. Medieval chairs, religious or secular, were large framed affairs often with linenfold panels, and frequently
provided with a canopy or tester, typically placed on a dais to further emphasize the importance of the occupant.

The box-like construction of these frame-and-panel chairs became lighter with time, as did another ancient type
known as the curule, an X-shaped chair used since Roman times, remarkably similar to many of today’s folding lawn
chairs.

Simultaneously, turned chairs, or “throwne” chairs as they were known, became common, partly due to the fact that
various trade guilds restricted particular construction techniques such as turning and joinery to separate craftsmen.

Rich carving and polychromatic surface treatments were typical of chairs reserved for important people, but by the
mid-17th century, as chairs became more common and very often upholstered, they became both lighter and smaller.
Chairs from the Age of Walnut display an open framework, utilizing various systems of stretchers, often combining a
great deal of carving with turned and profiled elements.

The French are generally credited with having developed the first truly lightweight and comfortable chairs, from which
a whole class of upholstered chairs has developed, including sleeping chairs, armchairs, wing chairs, and a variety of
chairs characterized by seat heights more convenient for uses other than at a dining table or desk, such as slipper
chairs and lounge chairs.

During the 18th century, before furniture production passed largely into the hands of factories, chairs were made with
more curves than before, a process that required considerable material, since curved sections -- typically legs and
backs -- were usually sawn out of the solid. The progress from straight and sometimes turned legs to shapes such as
the cabriole and the klismos, and the development of designs not requiring stretchers, but relying instead on
techniques such as knee blocks, corner blocks, and wider tenons in substantial rails, can be followed as a logical
timeline up to the point where commercial pressures for continual innovation resulted in the riot of revival styles that
characterizes the 19th century.
At the same time, various country styles evolved and remain popular, such as the Windsor chair, which originated
in Britain and was brought to a peak in America. Windsor chairs are ased on splayed legs held by stretchers, with rush
or cane seated chairs, largely turned, and developed into so-called ladderback chairs.

Of all classes of furniture, the chair presents the greatest structural challenges, and this fact has led to a variety of
types attempting to meet these challenges in different ways. Chief among these are chairs with adjustable backs, one
variety of which, the Morris chair, is closely associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. Other styles
include rocking chairs, which address the inherently weakest part of a chair’s construction -- the joint between
the seat and the back leg, especially when the occupant leans or tilts backwards, the bentwood chair, and the rattan
chair.

While the standard, approximately 14-in.-high-seated dining chair and side chair (a dining chair with arms) constitute
what is usually thought of when the word "chair" is uttered, varieties classified by use are almost infinite, ranging from
folding chairs to desk chairs, writing chairs made with widened arms, library chairs, and convertible ladder chairs.

From Benches to Barstools

A History of Chairs, Posture, and Society

It seems that since humankind first stood up to see over the tall Savannah grasses, we’ve been
looking for a place to sit back down. The historical record is not quite so succinct, however—but when
early migratory peoples first settled down into a domesticated lifestyle, it appears one mark of the
civilized person was a seat that elevated the body “away from the cold, damp floor” (de Dampierre
2006). By the simple act of constructing an artificial place to sit, humans began the long tradition of
distinguishing themselves from the animal world. It is a form as simple as the bending of our knees
and upright posture as our back, and yet that form is not so simple.

Sitting at the Dawn of Civilization

Archaeological evidence of sculptural relics at Neolithic building sites suggest chair and bench-like
areas, so it appears that chairs emerged during the Stone Age. But it is not certain at what point during
the expanse of time after the last Ice Age from about 10,000 B.C. to the dawn of civilization the first
person crafted a seat with a back (or, alternatively, a simple platform with legs, like a stool) and then
sat down on it (Crantz 1998). In addition, apart from simply elevating humans, humans of elevated
status, in particular, have long been associated with the early history of chairs.

The Ancient World

It is believed that humans appeared in China as far back as 40,000 B.C., with relatively dense
population patterns apparent in Mongolia by 20,000 B.C. Seats have been found in Chinese tombs but
seem strictly utilitarian, and designs remain relatively unchanged through the sixteenth century, when
a carpenter’s manual depicts standards of Chinese furniture in the form of woodblock prints. Records
suggest that the vast majority of “the earliest Chinese did not use chairs, but instead knelt on the
ground, leaning back on their heels to support their weight.”

The practice remained common through the tenth century and remains in use today in some traditional
settings in Eastern Asia, where low cushions and mats are still frequently used to sit upon the floor (de
Dampierre 2006). Like other civilizations, the stool—and in this case a folding stool—is considered the
oldest Chinese elevated “seat.” All said, there are many ways to sit and many things upon which to sit,
but the seat with a back and (most frequently) four legs is generally the Western concept known as a
chair.

One need look no further than ancient Egypt for the earliest surviving physical examples of the
Western world’s use of chairs. Egyptian tombs that have been unearthed contain chairs and stools
from as far back as the Egyptian Old Kingdom, about 2680 B.C., well preserved by Egypt’s dry air. The
most famous example dates to 1352 B.C.: the ornate throne sealed in the tomb of Pharaoh
Tutankhamen, or King Tut. There is, however, hieroglyphic evidence of chair usage by all strata of
society—though certainly not as pervasively as in modern society—dating back at least to the third
millennium B.C. (Crantz 1998). These early examples demonstrate basic woodworking skill, which
gradually gave way to advanced techniques in woodworking, including sophisticated joints, veneering,
ivory and precious metal inlays, and cushioning of virtually all available materials. Indeed, “Egyptian
craftsmen…created the fundamentals of all seating furniture,” including folding furniture (de Dampierre
2006).

Early in their history, chairs were largely used by higher strata of society, particularly in the form of
thrones—so the simpler, backless version of the chair,the stool,was the primary seat of lower strata.
Domestic furniture like the low-profile, rectangular-framed stools of ancient Egypt were “formed with a
double cove construction of curved wooden slats…which pass through holes in the frame” (de
Dampierre 2006).

Outside of Egypt, stelae from the Euphrates river valley in Mesopotamia depict the usage of chairs,
particularly by kings, but Galen Crantz suggests the more humid climate prevented any wooden or
rush-based chairs from surviving. The archaeological record from the other great early civilization
across the Mediterranean—Greece and the Cyclades Islands—is similarly sparse, broken by
devastating earthquakes and fires that disrupted and relocated entire civilizations. Few surviving
pieces of artistry depict simple stools from the second millennium B.C., though the first cultures
appeared in Greece as much as a thousand years earlier.

After a five-century gap in the archaeological record, paintings and sculpture starting from about the
seventh century B.C. have been unearthed that show an evolution of design resulting in much more
sophisticated furniture. As the culture evolved, Greek society’s focus on form, rhythm, precision, clarity,
and proportion worked its way into all aspects of life, including furniture. Chairs, stools, and benches
served all levels of society, a fact made evident by their surviving art and, more importantly, their
literature (de Dampierre 2006).

Etymology
The Greek language lends to the Romantic languages a contraction of kathedra (also into
Latin, cathedra), which is derived from kata, for “down,” and hedra, for “to sit.” The word passed into
Middle English from the Old French chaiereand the variant chaise, which is variously in use in English
for styles of chairs today (Jewell and Abate 2001). The other important related word, “throne,” arrives
in the English language from the Indo-European base word dher, which means “to hold or support.”
For Crantz, the distinction suggests that thrones were meant to support the privileged or royalty, while
chairs, which anyone can use—in a literal physical sense—were meant to sit down. Meanwhile, in
contrast to the upright back of the throne, a more reclined, relaxed, lighter Greek chair with a tilted
back called the klismos found its way, alone, with commonly used stools into the next great Western
civilization (1998).
The Roman Empire and the Dark Era of Chairs
In Rome, “the bed was the all-purpose piece of furniture,” a place where a Roman would not only
sleep, but “eat, read, write, and socialize,” while formal dinner banquets were held upon U-shaped
couches (Crantz 1998). Though more rare, chairs such as the upright thronus and the
reclined cathedra were used for formal functions and lounging women, respectively. Like the work of
many early civilizations, the mostly wooden pieces crafted during the Roman Empire have not survived
to the present day. Existing evidence has shown that a few largely identical designs were used
throughout the empire, from North Africa to Germany to Britain, and the more durable pieces
incorporated various metal and stone.
Regarding hierarchy and posture in the Roman Empire, stools sufficiently supported children both in
school and at the dinner table, while the father lounged on a couch and the mother sat in a chair
(though later in the history of the Empire, it appears the mother reclined on a couch as well). The
hierarchy also placed servants on stools, that time-honored seat of the masses. But the arrangement
does speak to many cultures' tendency to situate their royalty and their gods in a chair, seated in an
upright, supported position (though there are also examples of individuals slumping as in aclismos that
complicate the picture).

While modern scholars have discouraged the use of terms such as “The Dark Ages” to describe the
era between the sacking of Rome and the rise of the Renaissance, chairs saw very little development
during the millennium of the Middle Ages. Indeed, those who sacked Rome took no interest in their
culture—so along with Rome’s myriad technological advancements, the simpler things such as their
chairs also virtually vanished from the minds of civilization. Throughout the Middle Ages, chairs in the
standard definition were quite scarce, and their use was limited only to masters of the household, even
in the richest households. Medieval folk often improvised places to sit, from storage chests or heavy
high-backed chairs with chests under the seats that were anchored against walls (to prevent theft as
well as indicate status) to benches like those used in church choirs—or they simply squatted in a way
that is time-honored in other societies around the world (Crantz 1998).

The Chair Revival

The fifteenth century saw a centralization of urban trade centers and governments, and with a settling
of society came a settling of wealthy noblemen. These individuals and families began investing in
permanent homesteads, wherein chairs became free-standing pieces of furniture with specific
functions, often still reserved for the elite. The Renaissance saw a revival of Antiquity and renewal of
culture, and with the refreshed outlook came more sophisticated chairs with lighter, more complex
construction and classically inspired decorative motifs. The most important innovation was the lighter
construction. The Italian sgabello, for example, was a low, three-legged stool-inspired chair with a high
balanced backrest. Its successor in the sixteenth century added the forth leg, lowered the back and,
without any chest under the seat, it meant “the age of completely portable furniture that could be
moved from room to room as need had come” (de Dampierre 2006).

Meanwhile, in establishing the divine authority of royalty of the seventeenth century, the thrones of
those such as Louis XIV, Queen Christina of Sweden, and Alexis I of Russia were magnificent and
majestic. In the court of Louis XIV, in particular, the hierarchy of chairs was strictly regulated, the most
important being the armchair—a term first used in this century (Crantz 1998), followed in order by the
chair with a back, stools, and hassocks. However, “in the king’s presence most people had to remain
standing. Permission to use a stool—the only seat allowed in his presence—was a coveted honor” (de
Dampierre 2006).

The era of chairs in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw a flourish of high style, beginning
with the Baroque and moving through the Rococo, Neoclassical, and the cult of Antiquity: styles that
merged evolving taste in decorative arts with the form and status of chairs. During the period of the
Restoration in England (into the late eighteenth century), inlaid decorative elements and ornate carving
became more common. Most importantly, at the same time, chairs were simply becoming “more
common as life became more sociable” (de Dampierre 2006).

Europe and America alike focused on status in chair production beginning even in the pre-Colonial era
of the United States. Stools and benches continued to be used by the masses while people of status,
who could afford them, were those who purchased and used chairs up until the nineteenth century.
Into the 1800s, however, chairs became more commonplace in American households, with usually
enough provided for every member to sit down to dinner. Indeed, by the 1830s, factory-manufactured
“fancy chairs” such as those by Sears, Roebuck, and Co. allowed families to purchase machined sets.
The Industrial Revolution became the great democratizer of the once-elite chair (Crantz 1998).

La Chaise Moderne
The twentieth century saw a range of intriguing chair design influenced by the various artistic
movements, beginning with Art Nouveau and Art Deco. Art Deco emerged with the Machine Age,
which included austerely styled but well-crafted pieces by names like Le Corbusier and Bauhaus.
Additional artistic styles that worked their way into chair design included Cubism, Surrealism, the
Baroque, and a “primitive” style that looked to the “timeless innovation” of the long (but sparsely
recorded) history of African chairs and stools, particularly “those for ritual, political, or symbolic use”
(de Dampierre 2006).

The inter-war period, in particular, saw a flourishing of unique style prompted by the passionate
Modernist pursuit of proper form. The chair was based upon “the sociological expression of modern
values” and, as a result, those early twentieth-century chairs have become admired classics,
particularly among designers, but with varying influence on the public (Crantz 1998). Artistic
movements of the early 1900s have been variously adapted by contemporary designers both as a
retrospective and to meet the demands of consumers, whose interests cover styles across the
decades. The other side of the picture still portrays a “non-aesthetic aesthetic” of chair ergonomics, or
design that favors function over form, to the physiological benefit of the consumer (de Dampierre
2006).

Somewhere in the middle of social theory and ergonomics exists the ideal chair. But when the wide
array of applicable theories and artistic sensibilities combine with a world of distinct cultural aesthetics,
the perfect chair is as individual as the person designing it. It could be an ergonomically perfect model
designed for a day of productivity in the office, or a simple barstool, efficient in design but fully
functional and serving a specific purpose implicit in its name. Meanwhile, outlets such as Ikea and
World Market display chairs at the opposite ends of the design spectrum, from the stylish but
inexpensive manufactured chair to the fairly traded, hand-crafted artisan imports from around the
world.

Finally, one chair, perhaps, has outdone them all: the ubiquitous one-piece polypropylene plastic chair,
that three-sixteenth-of-an-inch “resin chair” which is manufactured around the world and shows up in
virtually every imaginable setting. At first glance, it is a practical, tacky piece that is more an after-
thought than an object of attention. But as even the Smithsonian Institute has avowed, the resin chair
is inextricably tied to the history of chairs, incorporating the postwar pursuit of progressive design with
ease of manufacture, portability, and basic comfort (Gosnell 2004).

-- Posted November 11, 2008

References
Crantz, Galen: 1998. The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body, and Design. New York, NY: W. W. Norton &
Company.
de Dampierre, Florence. 2006. Chairs: A History. New York, NY: Abrams.
Gosnell, Marianna. “Everybody Take a Seat.” Smithsonian Magazine. July 2004.
Jewell, Elizabeth J. and Frank Abate, eds. 2001. The New Oxford American Dictionary.New York, NY:
Oxford University Press.
History of the chair
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
4750-4600BC European chair clay model

Ancient Egyptian princess Sitamun*s chair

The chair is of extreme antiquity, although for many centuries and indeed for thousands of years it was an
article of state and dignity rather than an article of ordinary use. “The chair” is still extensively used as the
emblem of authority in the British House of Commons and in public meetings. It was not, in fact, until the
16th century that it became common anywhere. The chest, the bench and the stool were until then the
ordinary seats used to be used for bathroom use. and the number of chairs which have survived from an
earlier date is exceedingly limited; most of such examples are of ecclesiastical or seigneurial origin. Our
knowledge of the chairs of remote antiquity is
derived almost entirely from monuments, sculpture
and paintings. A few actual examples exist in the British Museum, in the Egyptian museum at
Cairo, and elsewhere.
 Contents

[hide]

1 Egyptian chairs

2 Greek and Roman chairs

3 Medieval chairs

4 Chinese chairs

5 Renaissance

6 English chairs

7 18th century chairs

8 19th century chairs

9 20th century and modern

chairs

10 See also

11 External links

12 References

[edit]Egyptian chairs

The chair of Hetepheres, the mother of Khufu

In ancient Egypt chairs appear to have been of great richness and splendour. Fashioned of ebony and
ivory, or of carved and gilded wood, they were covered with costly materials and supported upon
representations of the legs of beasts or the figures of captives. Egyptians believed that the chairs need to
represent natural forms to avoid creating chaos in the universe, by creating an artificial object. This
tendency is seen all over Egyptian art and manufacture. An arm-chair in fine preservation found in a tomb
in the Valley of the Kings is astonishingly similar, even in small details, to that "Empire" style which followed
Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt. The earliest monuments of Nineveh represent a chair without a back but
with tastefully carved legs ending in lions' claws or bulls' hoofs. Others are supported by figures in the
nature of caryatides or by animals.

[edit]Greek and Roman chairs

Klismos chair, with curved backrest and tapering, outcurved legs, on the stele of Xanthippos, Athens, ca. 430-20 BCE
A woman on a chair, side A of anAncient Greek Attic red-figuredloutrophoros, ca. 400 BC. From
Benghazi,Cyrenaica, Louvre Museum, Paris.

The earliest known form of Greek chair dates back to six or seven centuries BCE. On the frieze of the
Parthenon Zeus occupies a square seat with a bar-back and thick turned legs; it is ornamented with
winged sphinxes and the feet of beasts. The characteristic Roman chairs were of marble, also adorned with
sphinxes. The curule chair was originally very similar in form to the modern folding chair, but eventually
received a good deal of ornament. The most famous of the very few chairs which have come down from a
remote antiquity is the reputed Chair of Saint Peter in St Peter's Basilica at Rome. The wooden portions are
much decayed, but it would appear to be Byzantine work of the 6th century, and to be really an
ancient sedia gestatoria. It has ivory carvings representing the labours of Hercules. A few pieces of an
earlier oaken chair have been let in; the existing one, Gregorovius says, is of acacia wood. The legend that
this was the curile chair of the senator Pudens is necessarily apocryphal. It is not, as is popularly
supposed, enclosed in Gian Lorenzo Bernini's bronze chair, but is kept under triple lock and exhibited only
once in a century. Byzantium, like Greece and Rome, affected the curule form of chair, and in addition to
lions’ heads and winged figures of Victory (or Nike) and dolphin-shaped arms used also the lyre-back which
has been made familiar by the pseudo-classical revival of the end of the 18th century.
[edit]Medieval chairs

seigneurial chairs at a table with tin cutlery, pottery, medieval glass and earthenware in majolica, c. 1465

The chair of Maximian in the cathedral of Ravenna is believed to date from the middle of the 6th century. It
is of marble, round, with a high back, and is carved in high relief with figures of saints and scenes from the
Gospels—the Annunciation, the Adoration of the Magi, the flight into Egypt and the baptism of Christ. The
smaller spaces are filled with carvings of animals, birds, flowers and foliated ornament. The Chair of St.
Augustine, dating from at least the early thirteenth century[1] is one of the oldest cathedrae still in use.

Another very ancient seat is the so-called “Chair of Dagobert” in the Louvre. It is of cast bronze, sharpened
with the chisel and partially gilt; it is of the curule or faldstool type and supported upon legs terminating in
the heads and feet of animals. The seat, which was probably of leather, has disappeared. Its attribution
depends entirely upon the statement of Suger, abbot of St Denis in the 12th century, who added a back and
arms. Its age has been much discussed, but Viollet-le-Duc dated it to early Merovingian times, and it may
in any case be taken as the oldest faldstool in existence.

To the same generic type belongs the famous abbots’ chair of Glastonbury; such chairs might readily be
taken to pieces when their owners travelled. The faldisterium in time acquired arms and a back, while
retaining its folding shape. The most famous, as well as the most, ancient, English chair is that made at the
end of the 13th century for Edward I, in which most subsequent monarchs have been crowned. It is of an
architectural type and of oak, and was covered with gilded gesso which long since disappeared.

Passing from these historic examples we find the chair monopolized by the ruler, lay or ecclesiastical, to a
comparatively late date. As the seat of authority it stood at the head of the lord’s table, on his dais, by the
side of his bed. The seigneurial chair, commoner in France and the Netherlands than in England, is a very
interesting type, approximating in many respects to the episcopal or abbatial throne or stall. It early
acquired a very high back and sometimes had a canopy. Arms were invariable, and the lower part was
closed in with panelled or carved front and sides—the seat, indeed, was often hinged and sometimes
closed with a key.
That we are still said to sit “in” an arm-chair and “on" other kinds of chairs is a reminiscence of the time
when the lord or seigneur sat “in his chair.” These throne-like seats were always architectural in character,
and as Gothic feeling waned took the distinctive characteristics of Renaissance work.

[edit]Chinese chairs

A Chinese gentleman sitting in a chair while listening to music and watching a dancer, close-up detail in a 12th
century Song Dynasty remake of the 10th century original Night Revels of Han Xizai.

Before the Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD), the predominant sitting positions in the Han Chinese culture and
neighboring cultures such as the Japanese Culture, Korean Culture, Turkic Culture in Central Asia and Tai
Kadai Cultures to the southwest were the seiza and lotus position on the floor or sitting mats. The earliest
images of chairs in China are from sixth-century Buddhist murals and stele, but the practice of sitting in
chairs at that time was rare. It was not until the twelfth century that chairs became widespread in China.
Scholars disagree on the reasons for the adoption of the chair. The most common theories are that the
chair was an outgrowth of indigenous Chinese furniture, that it evolved from a camp stool imported from
Central Asia, that it was introduced to China by Nestorian missionaries in the seventh century, and that the
chair came to China from India as a form of Buddhist monastic furniture. [2] In modern China, unlike Korea or
Japan, it is not common to sit at floor level.

[edit]Renaissance

In Europe, it was owing in great measure to the Renaissance that the chair ceased to be a privilege of
state, and became the customary companion of whoever could afford to buy it. Once the idea of privilege
faded the chair speedily came into general use. We find almost at once began to reflect the fashions of the
hour. No piece of furniture has ever been so close an index to sumptuary changes. It has varied in size,
shape and sturdiness with the fashion not only of women’s dress but of men’s also. Thus the chair which
was not, even with its arms purposely suppressed, too ample during the several reigns of some form or
other of hoops and farthingale, became monstrous when these protuberances disappeared. Again, the
costly laced coats of the dandy of the 18th and early 19th centuries were so threatened by the ordinary
form of seat that a “conversation chair” was devised, which enabled the buck and the ruffler to sit with his
face to the back, his valuable tails hanging unimpeded over the front. The early chair almost invariably had
arms, and it was not until towards the close of the 16th century that the smaller form grew common.

The majority of the chairs of all countries until the middle of the 17th century were of timber (the
commonest survival is oak)[3] without upholstery, and when it became customary to cushion
them, leather was sometimes employed; subsequently velvet and silk were extensively used, and at a later
period cheaper and often more durable materials. . In Abraham Bosse's engraving (illustration, left), a
stylish Parisian musical party of about 1630 have pulled their low chairs (called "backstools" in
contemporary England) away from the tapestry-hung walls where they were normally lined up. The padded
back panels were covered with needlework panels to suit the tapestries, or in other settings with leather,
plain or tooled. Plain cloth across the back hid the wooden framing. Stools with column legs complement
the set, but aren't en suite. In seventeenth century France the bergere chair became fashionable among
the nobility and was often made ofwalnut.

Leather was not infrequently used even for the costly and elaborate chairs of the faldstool form—
occasionally sheathed in thin plates of silver—which Venice sent all over Europe. To this day, indeed,
leather is one of the most frequently employed materials for chair covering. The outstanding characteristic
of most chairs until the middle of the 17th century was massiveness and solidity. Being usually made of
oak, they were of considerable weight, and it was not until the introduction of the handsome Louis
XIII chairs with cane backs and seats that either weight or solidity was reduced.

[edit]English chairs

An English side chair (c. 1850) of unknown maker. The chair is made of papier-mâché with inlaid mother of pearl, gilded
and painted decoration. Part of the Baltimore Museum of Artcollection.
Although English furniture derives so extensively from foreign and especially French and Italian models, the
earlier forms of English chairs owed but little to exotic influences. This was especially the case down to the
end of the Tudor period, after which France began to set her mark upon the British chair. The squat variety,
with heavy and sombre back, carved like a piece of panelling, gave place to a taller, more slender, and
more elegant form, in which the framework only was carved, and attempts were made at ornament in new
directions. The stretcher especially offered opportunities which were not lost upon the cabinet-makers of
the Restoration. From a mere uncompromising cross-bar intended to strengthen the construction it
blossomed, almost suddenly, into an elaborate scroll-work or an exceedingly graceful semicircular
ornament connecting all four legs, with a vase-shaped knob in the centre. The arms and legs of chairs of
this period were scrolled, the splats of the back often showing a rich arrangement of spirals and scrolls.
This most decorative of all types appears to have been popularized in England by the cavaliers who had
been in exile with Charles II, and had become familiar with it in the north-western parts of the European
continent. During the reign of William and Mary these charming forms degenerated into something much
stiffer and more rectangular, with a solid, more or less fiddle-shaped splat and a cabriole leg with pad feet.
The more ornamental examples had cane seats and ill-proportioned cane backs. From these forms was
gradually developed the Chippendale chair, with its elaborately interlaced back, its graceful arms and
square or cabriole legs, the latter terminating in the claw and ball or the pad foot. George
Hepplewhite, Thomas Sheraton and Robert Adam all aimed at lightening the chair, which, even in the
master hands of Thomas Chippendale, remained comparatively heavy. The endeavour succeeded, and the
modern chair is everywhere comparatively slight.

[edit]18th century chairs

A reading of Molière, Jean François de Troy, about 1728

Informal, galante manners and a new half-reclining posture that replaced the former bolt-upright demeanor
of court and aristocracy in the age of Louis XIV went hand-in-hand with new commodious seat furniture,
developed in Paris about 1720 (illustration, right). The new Rococo chairs were upholstered à chassis, on
removable frames secured by clips, so that changes from winter to summer furniture could be effected
without recourse to the menuisier. Off-season upholstered frames were stored in the garde-meuble. These
early Louis XV chairs have backs upholstered à la reine, with the back in a flat panel that was ordinarily
placed squared to the wall, so that the top-rails' curves complemented those of the boiserie panels behind
them.

In the illustration, the symmetrical cusped and scrolling seatrails that flow into stubby cabriole legs of
these comfortable low armchairs (chauffeuses) have their direct origins in Chinese lacquer tables (not
chairs).

French fashions in chairs, as with everything else, radiated from Paris. From the late 1720s, fashionable
"Louis XV" French chairs were constructed without stretchers, which interfered with the unified flow of
curved seatrails into cabriole legs that generally ended in scroll feet. According to strict guildregulations in
force until the Revolution, French chairmaking was the business of the menuisier alone, whose craft was
conjoined with that of the upholsterer (huissier), both of whom specialized in seat-furniture-making in Paris.
A range of specialised seats were developed and given fanciful names, of which the
comfortable bergère ("shepherdess") is the most familiar. Walnut and beech were the characteristics woods
employed; finishes were painted in clear light tones en suite with wall panelling, gilded
(sometimes rechampi en blanc) or left in the natural color (á la capuchine), in which case walnut was the
timber used. Fruitwoods were popular for chairmaking in the provinces, where the menuisier might also be
called upon to provide carved and moulded boiseries for rooms. Lyon, Bordeaux and Liège all produced
characteristic variations on Paris models between ca. 1725 and 1780.

In the late 1760s in Paris the first Parisian neoclassical chairs were made, even before the accession
of Louis XVI, whose name is attached to the first phases of the style. Straight tapering fluted legs joined by
a block at the seat rail and architectural mouldings, characterize the style, in which each element is a
discrete entity. Louis Delanois, Jean-Claude Sené and Georges Jacob were three leading chairmakers in
the 1770s and 80s.

The 18th century was, indeed the golden age of the chair, especially in France and England, between
which there was considerable give and take of ideas. Even Diderot could not refrain from writing of them in
his Encyclopédie. The typical Louis Seize chair, oval-backed and ample of seat, with descending arms and
round-reeded legs, covered in Beauvais or some such gay tapestry woven withBoucher or Watteau-like
scenes, is a very gracious object, in which the period reached its high-water mark. The Empire brought in
squat and squabby shapes, comfortable enough no doubt, but entirely destitute of inspiration. English
Empire chairs were often heavier and more sombre than those of French design.
 [edit]19th century chairs

American Armchair (1850-1863) made of Rosewood, rosewood veneer, pine, and chestnut. Attributed to John Henry
Belter. Part of theBaltimore Museum of Art collection.

The art nouveau school produced chairs of simplicity. The Arts and Crafts movement produced heavy,
straight lined, minimally ornamented chairs. The most famous being the Michael Thonet Bendwood chair or
the 'bistro chair' created in 1859 which has revolutionized the industry and is still being produced today.

[edit]20th century and modern chairs

The 20th century saw an increasing use of technology in chair construction with such things as all-
metal folding chairs, metal-legged chairs, the Slumber Chair, moulded plastic chairs and ergonomic chairs,
recliner chairs (easy chair), butterfly chair, beanbag chairs, the egg or pod chair, plywood and laminate
wood chairs, and massage chairs.

The History of Bauhaus Furniture

By Mary Anne Kirk, eHow Contributor

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 Print this article

The Bauhaus was an important design school centered on the applied arts and founded in
Weimar, Germany, in 1919. Its founder, Walter Gropius, was an influential modern architect and
later a teacher and director at the Bauhaus school. In addition to influencing modern architecture,
art and graphic design, the Bauhaus school made significant contributions to early 20th-century
furniture design.
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1. Bauhaus Design Philosophy
o The Bauhaus school based its design philosophy on the principles that design
should be relevant to the needs of society and that it should utilize modern technology and
materials to inexpensively meet consumer needs. The Bauhaus school eschewed what it
considered "bourgeois" decorative details and instead promoted functional, inexpensive,
consumer products where form follows function and less is more. This philosophy resulted in
clean, simple and modern design.

Furniture Design

o Wassily Chair, Walter Gropius, 1925.

One important contribution made by the Bauhaus school was the use of steel as frames and
supports for different types of furniture, including tables, chairs, sofas and even lamps. The use
of machine-made, mass-produced steel tubing created simple forms requiring little handcrafting
or upholstery. Tubular steel greatly reduced production costs and thus the cost of the final
product. It also contributed to the streamlined, modern look of furniture.

Important Designers

o Barcelona Chair, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, 1929.

The Hungarian-born architect, furniture designer and Bauhaus instructor, Marcel Breuer (1902-
1981), first introduced the use of tubular steel in furniture design when he debuted his Wassily
chair in 1925. Breuer taught at the Bauhaus school from 1924 to 1928, and though trained as an
architect, taught furniture design at the school. The lightweight and graceful Wassily chair had a
chrome-plated tubular steel frame and simple but elegant canvas and leather upholstery
embodying the Bauhaus philosophy of functional form. Breuer later immigrated to the United
States. In 1929, another influential Bauhaus furniture designer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
(1886-1969), a director at the school, designed the Barcelona chair. The Barcelona chair
featured curved "x" shaped legs and curved steel supports covered in removable leather back
and seat cushions.

Design Standards
o The furniture workshop at the Bauhaus school approached furniture design by
first examining function. The Bauhaus school believed that furniture should be comfortable for
 sitting, and designers created simple forms to achieve this. Out of this approach came a series of
furniture design requirements based on functional analysis of furniture. These standards included
elastic seat and chair backs, prohibition of expensive stuffed upholstery, angled seats to alleviate
pressure on the legs while providing support and an angled chair back to support the torso. The
final design consideration ensured that the spine remain free to avoid discomfort or unhealthy
pressure.

Influence
o The Bauhaus school had a succession of three different campuses during its life
span until the oppressive Nazi regime shut it down in 1933. Many of the Bauhaus teachers fled to
other countries where they carried their progressive ideas of art, architecture and furniture design
with them, leading to an international Bauhaus influence. Bauhaus influence was monumental,
and its presence can still be seen in today's modern furniture designs.

Read more: The History of Bauhaus Furniture |

eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5087410_history-bauhaus-
furniture.html#ixzz1mVBZOTEP

Leonard Theosabrata
Leonard graduated from the Product Design
Faculty at the Art Center College of Design,
Pasadena, CA in 2002. His love for furniture
has led him to build the Accupunto brand.
Currently he is the head of LTD Studio,
which focuses on interior and product design
for clients such as TOTO, Aida and
Chamdani. Leonard's work is published in
the book YOUNG ASIAN DESIGNERS
published by DAAB Germany, featuring the
most influential designers in Asia today. He
was chosen as one of five young Asians to
be the face of Deutsche Well's new channel,
DW-TV Asia+.
" We have felt the need to expand our brand
for quite some time. To work with Michael
Young in an effort to realize this vision is a
bold yet obvious step. He knows what it is
like to work in Asian, and he understands
our work mentality, and that's very
important. It's the friendship that has
developed during the process that will
sustain our progress."
 Yos S. Theosabrata
Yos started the furniture business thirty
years ago and is currently the president of
several furniture, exhibition contracting, and
event organizing companies.
He is also the president of the Indonesia
Furniture Club. Without proper initial capital
to start with and formal education
background in furniture design, Yos has
proved his talent and business intuition in
this creati

Leonard Theosabrata, sang pencetus accupunto

Leonard Theosabrata,
yang filosofinya dalam mendesain furniture adalah “simplicity”, telah
membawanya ke kancah internasional. Pria berumur 31 tahun ini dikenal
sebagai salah satu dari desainer hebat untuk produk dan interior. Satu-
satunya orang Indonesia yang termasuk dalam Desainer Muda Asia untuk
publikasi Jerman di tahun 2006. Desainnya telah memenangkan beberapa
penghargaan desain ‘red dot’ di Jerman dan di tahun 2006 untuk penghargaan
Italy’s Well Tech. Dan hasil pekerjaaannya dipajang di Museum Sains dan
Teknologi sepanjang Pameran Milan 2006. Untuk prestasinya di desain, Leo
terpilih sebagai salah satu dari lima orang Desainer muda Asia, dari Deutsche
Welle’s New channel, DW-TV Asia+, yang diluncurkan di Jakarta.

Tujuan Leonard di kancah internasional tidak segera terlihat. Segera setelah

ia lulus SMA di tahun 1997, orang tuanya mengirimnya ke Amerika untuk
belajar di Art Institute of Houston di Texas. Sejak Leonard SMA, ia selalu
tertarik pada seni. Tidak sepenuhnya desain, tetapi seni. Bagi Leonard
terdengar tipikal tetapi diakuinya itu benar, karena ketertarikannya pada seni
membangun ketertarikan pada desain.

Dan setelah dua tahun belajar dan bekerja di Houston, ia merasa tidak
menikmati grafik sebanyak yang ia harapkan. Leo mulai berpikir untuk
berubah jurusan tetapi masih tidak tahu apa yang terbaik baginya, dan
bagaimanapun, ia tetap menginginkan untuk mengemban ilmu di sekolah
terbaik di Amerika Serikat. Ayahnya menyarankan ia untuk pindah ke desain
produk dan Leo mencobanya.

Pada waktu itu Leo hanya mempunyai satu portfolio desain, jadi ia mendaftar
di sekolah yang berjadual malam selama 6 bulan untuk menyiapkan portfolio
produknya. Sekolah malam ini disediakan oleh kampus dan ternyata ada
banyak orang seperti Leo yang punya ketertarikan tapi tidak mempunyai
sebuah portfolio untuk ditunjukan. Setelah menyelesaikan tiga proyek yang
diperlukan untuk rekruitmen masuk, Leo diterima di tahun 1999.

Ia belajar produk desain untuk tiga setengah tahun, dan sepanjang waktu itu
ia memenangkan bebeapa kompetisi di sekolah termasuk sebuah tim
proyekyang mengerjakan desain interior untuk pesawat Airbus 383, disponsori
oleh Singapore Airlines. Ia juga mendapatkan kesempatan untuk magang di
perusahaan manufaktur mainan Jepang Bandai di Tokyo.

Leo mengatakan pada waktu itu sulit untuk mendapatkan pekerjaan dan juga
sangat kompetitif, tapi Leo bahkan tidak perlu repot-repot untuk mencari
pekerjaan. Leo hampir mendapatkan penawaran dari Apple, tetapi ia adalah
tipe wirausaha dan tidak mau bekerja untuk orang lain, jadi Leo berpikir untuk
kembali dan memulai sendiri bisnisnya karena menurutnya itu lebih berharga.
Di tahun 2002, bersamaan dengan adiknya yang akan menikah, ia pulang ke
Indonesia.

Secepatnya setelah itu, ia memulai brand furniturenya sendiri, Accupunto,

membuat kursi, kursi-kursi makan, bangku-bangku dan kursi-kursi yang dapat
ditumpuk, berdasarkan prinsip akupuntur. Bagian-bagiannya dikarakterisasi
oleh sebuah bentuk simple yang dapat muat di kamar manapun. Bagi Leonard,
itu adalah ide yang sudah dicoba karena ia menggunakannya pada tugas
akhirnya di universitas. Dengan kreativitasnya, Accupuncto hadir sebagai
produk yang nyaman sekaligus unik dan juga indah dilihat. Sang ayah Yos
Theosabrata, yang juga merupakan Direktur Utama Accupunto, awalnya hanya
bertujuan untuk membuat tempat duduk yang nyaman dan mampu menopang
bentuk tubuh. Lalu sang anak Leonard Theosabrata, yang memiliki latar
belakang produk desain, memilih kerangka dari metal untuk mengakomodasi
dudukan dan sandaran yang dibuat dari tonjolan-tonjolan plastik.
Modern yang minimalis, tempak duduk Accupuncto yang memberikan
kombinasi unik metode akupuntur dan dengan sukses mentransformasikannya
menjadi sebuah produk furnitur yang selain enak diduduki, juga menunjang
kesehatan.

Leonard mengatakan bahwa desainnya terpengaruh oleh kemajuan Bauhaus di

Jerman dari 1920-1930, satu kemajuan desain yang paling penting di abad ke-
20 adalah dimana setelah itu terpengaruh oleh perkembangan di dalam seni,
arsitektur dan desain.

Satu dari prinsip kemajuan Bauhaus adalah “bentuk mengikuti fungsi”, dan
dipermudah bentuk-bentuk radikal, disimpulkan rasional dan fungsional, dan
menginisiasi ide-ide untuk produksi massa.

Pengalaman dari menciptakan brandnya sendiri membawanya ke Eropa

dimana Leonard menyebutnya pusat dari desain produk dan interior. Karena
walaupun Leo belajar di Amerika Serikat, ia selalu ingin pergi ke Eropa. Dan
akhirnya mimpi Leo terwujud dengan mengambil bagian dalam pameran-
pameran di Eropa dan bersanding bersama brand-brand yang ia kagumi.

Sepanjang tahun kedua Accupunto, Leonard ambil bagian di satu pameran

desain terbesar Eropa. The International Meuble Messe in Cologne.. Sempat
mendapat pujian dari majalah Wallpaper, Accupuncto ini juga masuk dalam
daftar 10 produk terbaik pada pameran internasional Koln di Jerman diawal
tahun ini. Berbagai kompetisi desain produk pun diikutinya, dan dalam
Penghargaan Red Dot yang cukup bergengsi di Jerman, Accupuncto juga
sempat terpilih menjadi salah satu dari 339 penerima penghargaan Red Dot
tahun 2003, diantara 1.494 produk desain lain dari 28 negara.

By : zoe
Referensi: The Jakarta Post, www.rockczar.com