FURNITURE DESIGN-

III B-interior Design– 4th year, 1st semester

Understanding how furniture and its design help achieve desired character and ambience
to enhance the said activity
To study furniture in detail based on its function, form, cultural influence, regional, religious
and sentimental value . Its physical and emotional parameters.

Type of material used for making the furniture, its joinery details and specifications.
Influence of type and design of furniture achieve specific character and ambience to the space.

Also furniture’s activity to provide & complete functional aspects and durability of public spaces.
Most important functional part of any furniture is its ergonomic design and its durability, its duration.
Factory made ready to install, diy- bulk production of furniture, estimations and costing of individual or bulk production,
Specifications for locally sourced materials, design of its elements, construction techniques and its finishes. Modular furniture
knockdown type furniture and re assembly techniques.
Furnitures for exhibitions, pavilions, stadiums etc.
Furniture

1.the movable articles that are used to make a room or building suitable for living or working in, such as tables, chairs, or desks.
2.[usually with adjective or noun modifier] the small accessories or fittings that are re- quired for a particular task or function:
Furniture Design
Furniture design encompasses the microarchitectures of seating, reclining, storage, and display. Its products include
chairs, benches, couches, stools, beds, cabinets, shelving, desks, and tables.
in Design Dictionarie

At the dawn of human civilisation, when the concept of furniture was not yet known, man, driven only by the
need to make life easier, in a natural way used various objects made spontaneously by nature. A trunk of a tree
felled by the wind or rock served as a place to sit, a flat stone block served as a base for performing a variety of
common work, and soft moss or woollen skins served as a bed.
What is the importance of Furniture design?
Over the years, as a result of the creative activity of humans, artefacts began to be made which replaced the
spontaneously made objects in the historic times. Thus evolution in design criteria also started taking place based on
new age requirements based on usage and functionality of furniture for human kind deriving its form and function into
multi disciplinary fields.
Over the centuries, due to the preferences of societies that lived in a given age, their forms changed. New types of
furniture were created that fulfilled specific functions: to sit, lie down, for work, for dining, storage and others.
Furniture design's scope and limitation with respect to the field of interior
design
the scale of furniture matters in a given space and to study with respect to the surrounding context for
that particular style.
Furniture design in a
business , commercial space
 Introduction to the styles of furniture, their historic evolution, its uses, etc.
HISTORY
Generally, the remaining furniture constructions from the first dynasty of ancient Egypt are accepted as the
beginning of the history of furniture (the years around 3100–2890 B.C.). Meanwhile, there is much evidence to
suggest that furniture was manufactured and used by humans in the late Palaeolithic and early Neolithic period.
Historically, the most commonly used material for manufacturing furniture was
wood. Archaeological finds, however, indicate that in steppe and permafrost ter- rains, stone, metal and animal bones,
especially mammoth bones, were also used. Despite the fact that the reconstruction of prehistoric homes with their
equipment is not possible, there is not the slightest doubt that they housed furniture.
Ancient Egypt
2500 – 1075 Bc

While most of Europe was still in the Stone Age, the

Egyptians were building palaces, studying mathematics and
writing on papyrus. They were great builders and great artists,
drawing the inspiration for their art from nature. A complex
social and religious structure was in place.
Egyptian antique furniture provides almost the only
surviving examples of actual ancient furniture. Egyptians
believed that possessions could still be used in the afterlife,
and items of furniture were buried with the dead in sealed Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s replica of burial chamber and throne
tombs. Tutankhamun’s ceremonial throne, around 1325 B.C.
(Cairo Museum in Egypt)

chest enjoys life and fortune. The lid is decorated with

two symmetrical panels of gilded wood and faience. Jewellery box. Valley of
Kings, Tjuyu’s tomb, 18th
dynasty, Amenhotep III’s
rule, the years 1387–1350
B.C.
(Cairo Museum in Egypt)

Tutankhamun’s throne is extremely impressive,

richly decorated with gold, silver, semi-precious
stones and a coloured glass paste. Glass paste is a
glassy mass consisting of silicates, fused in refractory
forms, mixed with crystal and dyed with metal oxides.

Relief, Horemheb at a
dining table. Sakkara,
Bed of Queen Hetepheres IV, from the Horemheb’s tomb,
dynasty of Snefru, around 2575–2551 18th dynasty, around
B.C. (reconstruction of the original from 1325 B.C. (British
the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) Museum)
 Ancient Greece
499 BC to 79 BC
Greek furniture styles were simple, elegant and tasteful. Although carving and inlays were
used, furniture was not over-decorated. Houses were not cluttered with much furniture. However, the
Greek love of beauty and art extended to furniture design, and the few simple items of furniture in an
early Greek household were often works of art in their own right.

The Greeks followed the Eastern tradition of lying down to eat. These couches, known as
klines, had a headboard that could be used as a backrest while sitting, and were elegantly
upholstered. They could be made entirely of wood, but often had bronze legs cast in animal styles.
The klines would be placed around the walls, and small tables would be placed next to them to hold
the food and drink.
Cupboards and shelves were unknown. Various types and sizes of chests were used for
storage. These were usually decorated, perhaps painted with a frieze of leaves and flowers. Chests
were prized pieces of furniture, and would often be passed down from one generation to another.
In Greece, many new, original structural forms of furniture were created, especially chairs and stools. They were ascribed
separate, distinctive names, which include: diphros, i.e. a small and lightweight stool, diphros okladias a type of folding stool
consisting of a large number of elements under the seat, klismos, klinter or klisja is a lightweight chair with a backrest
and legs that are characteristically bent forward and backward, intended mainly for women, kathedra or thronos represented by
a heavy chair with a backrest, designed for men, having insignia showing their authority and family or social position.
Ancient Rome
509Bc-180

Furniture in Roman houses tended to be sparse, since the occupants liked space
and simplicity in their decor. Beauty was created by mosaics, frescos and water
features and other features of Roman interiors rather than by use of elaborate
furnishings.
However, the few items of Roman Empire furniture were elegant and costly,
using excellent materials and craftsmanship. Pictures of ancient Roman furniture
painted on frescos and other artworks, together with the few pieces still in existence
today, have made it possible to reconstruct with accuracy the furniture in Roman
times.

Much furniture that we take for granted was entirely unknown to the Romans. The
main items of Roman furniture found in the best houses were couches or beds
( lectus ), chairs and stools, tables and lamps. Adding chests or wooden cabinets with
doors, an occasional brazier, and still seldomer, a water clock, we have assembled
everything that can be called furniture, except perhaps for tableware and kitchen
utensils.
in http://www.furniturestyles.net/ancient/egyptian/ (on
18’02’2012)
Middle Ages
400 – 1500 Ac

With the collapse of the Roman Empire during the 4th–5th centuries, Europe
sank into a period in which little furniture, except the most basic, was used: chairs,
stools, benches, and primitive chests were the most common items.

Medieval furniture was primarily made of oak, since it was easy to obtain, strong
and durable. Perhaps the most important piece of medieval furniture was the chest or
coffer. Chests were originally made from hollow tree trunks banded with iron, hence
the origin of the modern word 'trunk'. A type of chest known as the hutch could be
used for packing household possessions when traveling, but it was also used as a
seat, a desk, a table, and a couch for sleeping purposes. When not traveling, the
hutch was used for storage.

in http://www.onlinedesignteacher.com/furniture_design/furniture_design%20history.html#.VClry_mSySo (on 18’02’2014)

Gothic
1150– 1500 AC

Gothic wood furniture was mostly made from oak, although local softwoods were
also used towards the end of the period. Medieval Gothic style furniture was heavily
carved and decorated. Religious themes were popular in carvings, as were heraldic
symbols such as griffins, lions or hawks. Floral themes were also widely used.
Paintings and inlays were also used for furniture decoration so that the whole effect
was much more ornate than the furniture of earlier eras. Furniture pieces were large
and solid, follo- wing the lines of Gothic church furniture.

Gothic cabinet furniture progressed a long way from the simple storage chests
and coffers of earlier times.

Gothic bedroom furniture featured massive four poster beds, with linenfold-carved
valences, and heavily carved and decorated posts and bedsteads. Gargoyles and
other horrific mythical creatures were popular motifs since it was believed that they
would fri- ghten away evil spirits. Bed coverings and hangings in rich colors completed
the elabo- rate Gothic bedroom style.
in http://www.furniturestyles.net/ancient/egyptian/ (on
18’02’2014)
Renaissance
1450 – 1600 AC

Characteristics of Renaissance furniture show a shift from Gothic design

influences of geometry and foliage themes to images from the Bible, mythology, and
history.
Renaissance furniture reflected a renewed interest in the arts by the wealthy, with
ornate carving on chairs, table legs, and cabinets adorned with figurines. This era in
history was inspired by Greek and Roman ideals.

Renaissance furniture first appeared in Italy, where craftsmen began adorning their
work with ornamental scenes taken from art and an evolving interest in science.
Religion and Christianity might be represented by carved panels inspired by churches
and palaces. Early pieces of Renaissance furniture focused on tastes of the wealthy
and were not considered suitable for common domestic use.

Artisans from other European countries traveled to Italy to learn the emerging style
of furniture building, beginning in the 14th century. French artists copied Italian designs
but refined the style by carving intricate patterns on drawers and cabinet panels. The
French craftsmen continued to incorporate Gothic foliage designs in Renaissance
furniture.
Chairs became larger and more ornate with high, richly carved backs.
 Dutch furniture builders began using ebony and other wood in place of the traditio-
nal oak during the Renaissance period. The Flemish Renaissance furniture during the
17th century saw a shift from the Italian influence into more original designs. Tables
commonly took a rectangular form, with scrolling on the legs. Artists began using
marble or mosaic designs on table tops.Upholstery emerged, with silk, tapestry, or
leather seats appearing on chairs.

The Tudor style and Elizabethan furniture of England also evolved during the 17th
century. English furniture builders combined Gothic influences with images from mytho-
logy and Christianity. During the reign of Elizabeth I, knobs were added to the legs of
furniture, along with the design of massive, four-poster beds known as Elizabethan
beds. Decorative cornices and richly carved posts typically graced these beds.
Furniture during this period began appearing with carved shields, family crests, or
coats of arms to recognize family ancestry.
in http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-characteristics-of-renaissance-furniture.htm (on
18’02’2014)
Baroque & Rococo
17th & 18th Century

The Baroque style uses exaggerated motion and clear detail to produce grandeur
and exuberance in painting, sculpture, music, and decoration. Baroque furniture
captures that flair and is obvious in rich detail, vibrant colors, and opulence.
Decorations of the period were profusely detailed and highly ornamental. The Baroque
started in the early 1600s in Rome and spread all around Europe.

The Roman Catholic Church encouraged the opulent style by using Baroque
furniture and paintings. The church said it wanted to use Baroque art and style to
inspire raw emotions, thus enabling people to feel closer to religion. Aristocracy also
appreciated the dramatic style of Baroque furniture and used it in their palaces.
Baroque style favors large pieces, exaggerated decorations, colossal sculptures, and
high volu- mes.

Small details were generally incorporated into Baroque furniture. They were also
used as an accent in the furniture, often being carved into an arm chair or sofa.
Nymphs and angels often accompanied, or replaced, the cherubs.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-baroque-
furniture.htm
 Rococo furniture is sumptuous and extreme in design, and often employs many
different types of material and ornamentation in a single piece. While Rococo furniture
may not suit more modest taste, it can provide an aura of luxury and will definitely
create a design centerpiece that is impossible to miss.
Popularized by Louis XV's influential mistress, Madame de Pompadour,
Rococo design emphasized detail, well-defined sculpted lines, and ornamentation.
Not surprisingly, the Rococo period was followed by a neoclassical backlash, in
which curving, gilded swirls were overtaken by a return to plain, monochromatic, and
geome- tric styles reminiscent of Ancient Rome.
Many decorative arts, such as painting, gilding, and bronzing, were used to add
additional levels of detail and magnificence to Rococo furniture. During the period, a
decorative chair might pass through several different workshops on its path to
comple- tion, including a carpenter, carver, upholsterer, and gilder. Not surprisingly,
the detailed style was primarily used by wealthy merchants and the nobility, as few
middle-class or working-class households could afford such dramatic decoration.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-rococo-
furniture.htm
Neoclassic
18th to 19th Century

Neoclassical furniture is a style of furniture that gained popularity in the mid-1700s

and into the 1800s. Many countries followed the neoclassical design during that time
period, each one giving the style a different name. As a result, in England neoclassical
furniture is referred to as Late Georgian, in France it is called Louis XVI style, and in
the United States it is called the Federal or Empire style. It is also called Grecian or
Etruscan style in some places.

In neoclassical furniture, form is ultimately the most important factor. The

furniture should be considered orderly, with more tidy lines and fewer swirls and
curves. There is still plenty of ornate detail, as was common in previous furniture
styles, however. The detail in neoclassical furniture comes from delicate painting and
precise carving. In addition, wood can be inlaid with other pieces of wood, gold foil, or
other materials.
 Popular pieces of neoclassical furniture include the chaise lounge, similar to the
one in which Cleopatra was so often depicted relaxing; fire screens; chairs; sofas;
foots- tools; tables; and bookcases. Many times, room accessories are often used to
carry out the theme in a room as well. These often include statutes and fountains, as
both are re- miniscent of ancient Greece or Rome.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-neoclassical-furniture.htm (on 18’02’2014)

From the mid-nineteenth century to the First World War:

Industrialization gives way to mass production, Design as a synonym

for simplification of form; Relationship between skilled craftsmen and
industry;

top concerns: aesthetic, ethical, technical and functional;

Michael Thonet:
1796 - 1871

The idea for a bentwood chair originated with Michael Thonet, a German born
cabi- netmaker. Thonet wanted to design a piece of furniture that could be mass
produced at low prices, that had few parts, and that was not difficult to assemble. The
manufacturing process for this type of chair involves heating the wood with steam,
which allows the wood to then be bent into the classic rounded chair shape. This
simple way of making furniture enabled mass production of the bentwood chair and
helped to pave the way for what became the standard bentwood design.
the Thonet Model 14
Werkbund (German Association of Craftsmen):
founded in 1907

The Werkbund was to become an important event in the development of modern

architecture and industrial design, particularly in the later creation of the Bauhaus
school of design. Its initial purpose was to establish a partnership of product
manufacturers with design professionals to improve the competitiveness of
German companies in global markets. The Werkbund was less an artistic
movement than a state-sponsored effort to integrate traditional crafts and industrial
mass-production techniques, to put Germany on a competitive footing with
England and the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutscher_Werkbund
Bauhaus:
1919 to 1925; 1925 to 1932; 1932 to
1933

Weimar - Walter
Gropius Dessau -
Hannes Meyer
Berlin - Ludwig Mies
van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe:
1886 - 1969

At 19 he moved to berlin, where he worked for Bruno Paul, the art nouveau architect
and furniture designer. At 20 he received his first independent commission, to plan a
house for a philosopher (Alois Riehl). In 1908 he began working for the architect Peter
Behrens. He studied the architecture of the Prussian Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Frank
Lloyd Wright. he opened his own office in berlin in 1912, and married in 1913.
---
In 1927 he designed one of his most famous buildings, in 1929. this small hall, known
as the barcelona pavilion, for which he also designed the famous chrome and leather
'barcelona chair'.
---
In the30s, none of his designs were built due to the sweeping economic and political
changes overtaking Germany. He was director of the Bauhaus school from 1930 until
its disbandment in 1933, shut down under pressure from the new Nazi government.
He moved to the United States in 1937...
---
“God is in the details”
---
“Less is more””
http://www.designboom.com/portrait/mies/bg.html
From the First World War to the post-Second World War:
1914 - 1933

Vanguards and the different ways of the modern movement:

The elimination of ornament, the birth of a new aesthetics - more geometric and
rational.
---
The utopia of the object-type (archetype): the perfect and ideal way with
universal validity: chair Red / Blue by Rietveld, Grand Confort by Le Corbusier,
Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair.
---
Charlotte Perriand, Jean Prouvé, Alvar Aalto, Marcel Brauer, ...
Le Corbusier:
1887 - 1965

Le Corbusier was a Swiss-born French architect who belonged to the first generation
of the so-called International school of architecture.
---
He was born Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris in Switzerland on October 6, 1887. In
1917, he moved to Paris and assumed the pseudonym Le Corbusier. In his
architecture, he chiefly built with steel and reinforced concrete and worked with
elemental geometric forms. Le Corbusier's painting emphasized clear forms and
structures, which corresponded to his architecture.
---
After designing his first house, in 1907, at age 20, Le Corbusier took trips through
cen- tral Europe and the Mediterranean. His travels included apprenticeships with
various architects, most significantly with structural rationalist Auguste Perret, a
pioneer of rein- forced concrete construction, and later with renowned architect Peter
Behrens, with whom Le Corbusier worked from October 1910 to March 1911, near
Berlin.
---
In 1912, Le Corbusier returned to La Chaux-de-Fonds to teach alongside
L’Eplattenier and to open his own architectural practice. He designed a series of
villas and began to theorize on the use of reinforced concrete as a structural frame, a
http://www.biography.com/people/le-corbusier-9376609#early-career
thoroughly modern technique.
Charlotte Perriand:
1903 - 1999

Charlotte Perriand, was a French architect and designer. Her work aimed to create
functional living spaces in the belief that better design helps in creating a better
society. In her article L’Art de Vivre from 1981 she states “The extension of the art of
dwelling is the art of living- living in harmony with man’s deepest drives and with his
adopted or fabricated environment.”
---
After applying to work at Le Corbusier's studio in 1927 and being famously rejected
with the reply "We don’t embroider cushions here", Perriand renovated her apartment
into a room with a large bar made of aluminum glass and chrome. She recreated this
for the Salon d’Automne, gaining notice from Le Corbusier's partner, Pierre Jeanneret,
convincing Corbusier to offer her a job in furniture design. There, she was in charge of
their interiors work and promoting their designs through a series of exhibitions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Perriandl
Jean Prouvé:
1901 - 1984

Jean Prouvé, born 1901 in Paris, was trained as a metal artisan under Emile Robert,
Enghien and Szabo in Paris. In 1924 he opened his own workshop in Nancy and
began to produce his first furnishings made of formed sheet steel in 1925. He was a
founding member of the Union des Artistes Modernes (UAM) in 1930. In the following
year he established his own manufacturing firm, Les Ateliers Jean Prouvé. During the
1930s, the company produced numerous furniture designs, as well as some of the first
prefabrica- ted architectural elements, including components for the Maison du Peuple
in Clichy (in collaboration with the architects Beaudoin and Lods), whose steel-and-
glass structure attracted a great deal of attention.
---
Due to the scarcity of steel during the Second World War, Prouvé constructed wood
fur- niture and developed simple houses made out of prefabricated parts. Active in the
French Résistance, Prouvé was elected mayor of Nancy after the city was liberated.
He designed and constructed residential buildings for the homeless.

http://www.vitra.com/en-pl/corporation/designer/details/jean-prouve
Alvar Aalto:
1898 - 1976

Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto was a Finnish architect and designer, as well as a sculptor
and painter. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware. Aalto's
early career runs in parallel with the rapid economic growth and industrialization of
Finland during the first half of the twentieth century and many of his clients were
industrialists.
---
The span of his career, from the 1920s to the 1970s, is reflected in the styles of his
work, ranging from Nordic Classicism of the early work, to a rational International Style
Modernism during the 1930s to a more organic modernist style from the 1940s
onwards. His furniture designs were considered Scandinavian Modern.
---
Together with his first wife Aino Aalto – would design not just the building, but give
special treatments to the interior surfaces and design furniture, lamps, and
furnishings and glassware.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvar_Aalto
The postwar consumer society:

The postwar situation leads the industrialized countries to rethink design, looking for
new product adapted to needs and ways of life, new materials and production
processes. The Marshall Plan rehabilitates the German economy, Italian and
Japanese.
---
“Good Design” and “Good Form” are the primary concepts of this period. Both imply
Rationality, functionality, quality, accessibility and low cost, but while the first
emphasi- zes the aesthetics of the piece, the second prints a focus on ethics and
underlying philosophy.
Ettore Sottsass:
1917 - 2007

Whilst the Memphis movement in the eighties attracted enormous attention around the
world for its energy and flamboyance, Ettore Sottsass was simultaneously assembling
a major design consultancy which he named Sottsass Associati. The studio was
establi- shed in 1980 and gave the possibility to build architecture on a substantial
scale as well as to design for large international industries.

Sottsass Associati, primarily an architectural practice, also designed elaborate stores

and showrooms for Esprit, identities for Alessi, exhibitions, interiors, consumer
electro- nics in Japan and furniture of all kinds.

Sottsass Associati are presently based in London and Milan and continue to sustain
the work, philosophy and culture of the studio.

http://www.sottsass.it/
Arne Jacobsen:
1902-1971

While Arne Jacobsen was also a successful architect, he is best remembered for
his simple, yet elegant and functional chair designs.
---
The cooperation between Arne Jacobsen and Fritz Hansen dates back to 1934. But it
wasn't until 1952 that Jacobsen made a break-through: the Jacobsen Ant™ Chair.
The- Jacobsen Series 7™ Chair quickly followed in 1955. This propelled Jacobsen
and Fritz Hansen's names into furniture history.
---
At the end of the 50s Arne Jacobsen was the lead architect for the Royal Hotel in
Cope- nhagen, and designed the famous Egg™ Chair, the Swan™ Chair, the Swan™
Sofa and Series 3300™ Chairs. Arne Jacobsen was and is an admired and
outstanding de- signer. While the significance of Arne Jacobsen's buildings was less
appreciated, his furniture and other design work have become national and
international heritage.

http://www.danishdesignstore.com/collections/designer-collections-arne-jacobsen
Hans Wegner:
1914 - 2007

Hans J. Wegner - cabinet-maker and furniture designer and one of the principals of
“Danish Modern”. He is one of the Danish designers who has achieved world fame.
Wegner is a meticulous and admired craftsman and his furniture is a combination of
good, solid details rooted in the tradition of the craftsmanship he highly regards.
Fritz Hansen has manufactures the China Chair™ since 1944.

http://www.fritzhansen.com/en/designers/hans-j-wegner
The era that revolutionized the world:

The economic development of the 60´s causes an explosion in consumption and

an unprecedented optimism, accompanied by profound sociocultural changes.
---
Consumption, optimism and the Pop spirit.
---
Form follows gradually more emotion, and “not so much the function”.
---
Fashion is dominated by dream and the imaginary.
George Nelson:
1908 - 1986

George Nelson Architect and Designer was, together with Charles & Ray Eames, one
of the founding fathers of American modernism. George Nelson is seen as "The
Creator of Beautiful and Practical Things".
---
Several George Nelson products are still in production today.

http://www.georgenelson.org/
Eero Aarnio:
21 de julho de 1932

Eero Aarnio is a Finnish interior designer, noted for his innovative furniture designs
in the 1960s, such as his plastic and fibreglass chairs.
---
Aarnio studied at the Institute of Industrial Arts in Helsinki, and started his own office
in 1962. The following year, he introduced his Ball Chair, a hollow sphere on a stand,
open on one side to allow a person to sit within.
---
Aarnio's designs were an important aspect of 1960s popular culture, and could often
be seen as part of sets in period science-fiction films. Because his designs used very
simple geometric forms, they were ideal for such productions. Eero Aarnio continues
to create new designs, including toys and furniture for children. Eero Aarnio opened
his official webshop and first Design Eero Aarnio Showroom, in Helsinki. There you
can find Aarnio`s latest design, prototypes and latest news.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eero_Aarnio
Joe Colombo:
1923 - 1978

After experiences in various art's fields, from informal painting to furnishings, since
1963 he devotes himself to the industrial design for a mass-production; many of those
objects, assembled in different ways, look as true systems.
---
By experimenting new materials and using most advanced technologies, he creates
a kind of "machines for living", habitat of the future:
multi-function mobile units, like "VISIONA 1","TOTAL FURNISHING", "ROTO--
LIVING","CABRIOLET-BED" and "MINI-KITCHEN".
---
Many of his works have been exhibited and included in the most important
Museum’s collections all over the world.

http://www.joecolombo.com/colombo.htm
Verner Panton:
1926 - 1998

Verner Panton, born 1926 in Gamtofte, Denmark, studied at Odense Technical

College before enrolling at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen as
an archi- tecture student.
---
He worked from 1950-52 in the architectural firm of Arne Jacobsen, and founded an
independent studio for architecture and design in 1955. His furniture designs for the
firm Plus-linje attracted attention with their geometric forms. In the following years
Panton created numerous designs for seating furniture and lighting.
---
His passion for bright colors and geometric patterns manifested itself in an
extensive range of textile designs. By fusing the elements of a room—floor, walls,
ceiling, fur- nishings, lighting, textiles, wall panels made of enamel or plastic

http://www.vitra.com/en-us/corporation/designer/details/verner-panton
Chapter 2
Classification and
Characteristics of Furniture

2.1 Characteristics of Furniture

Furniture is objects of applied arts intended for mobile and permanent furnishing
of residential interiors. Among other things, it serves for storage, work, eating,
sitting, lying down, sleeping and relaxing. Furniture can be used individually, in
suites or sets.
A furniture suite (Fig. 2.1) is a collection of articles, often of different
features, but with a similar purpose, having identical or very similar aesthetic
form. They are made through the implementation of a specifically determined
design work, in which goal might be, for example, furniture for the dining room:
in a flat, residence or hotel. A characteristic feature of a suite is that individual
pieces of furniture can
be combined according to different, but logical rules. The following criteria
for
completing suites are most frequently adopted: type of material, wood species,
type of surface finish, place of use of the furniture, and the historical period in
which the furniture was made or what period it refers to stylistically. A lounge
suite can consist of two or three armchairs, two double sofas or two corner
reclining sofas. A suite is also three armchairs, pouffe and reclining double sofa.
Another suite can be a corner reclining sofa and an armchair with a container. A
suite for storage can consist of a clothes cupboard, a library bookcase, a bar and
glass case, as well as a dresser, chest of drawers, glass case and cabinet. A suite
for the dining room can include a dresser, cabinet, dining table, chairs and side
table. A kitchen suite usually consists of upper and lower cabinets or built-in
cabinets, but may be supplemented with a table and chairs, buffet or bar. A suite
of office furniture can consist of a series of filing cabinets, shelves for files,
cabinets with sliding shutters, work tables with chairs and dividing walls. A suite
of study furniture can include a desk, side table, armchair, wardrobe, library
bookcase and table with chairs.
A furniture set (Fig. 2.2) can contain both individual furniture pieces and
fur- niture suites. Furniture constituting a set, unlike furniture included in suites,
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 47
may have a Furniture
J. Smardzewski, differentDesign,
purposes and different aesthetic and structural
forms.
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-19533-9_2
48 2 Classification and Characteristics of Furniture

Fig. 2.1 A furniture suite for

the dining room (Furniture
Collection Klose, Juvena,
designed by Zenon Bączyk)

Fig. 2.2 Furniture set

(Furniture Collection Klose,
Juvena, designed by Zenon
Bączyk)

However, they can be grouped together in sufficiently harmonious collections.

A characteristic feature of a set is that the individual furniture pieces or suites were
created independently of each other and were not the product of a coherent idea of
one designer or team of designers.

2.2 Classification of Furniture

Furniture belongs to the group of objects of applied arts, and many of them have
similar structural, technological, functional, operational and aesthetic features. For
these reasons, making a distinctive and obvious division of furniture is difficult
and to a large extent depends on the experience and intuition of the author of
such a division. The main difficulties which may arise in the future, when
creating new divisions of furniture, result primarily from:
2.2 Classification of Furniture 49

• the development of new technologies of production and use of new materials,

• the use of identical furniture in various places and in different conditions of
exploitation,
• coincidence, i.e., that various furniture pieces have similar functions in similar
places of use and
• blurring of boundaries of clear criteria for the division of furniture.
Taking into account the presented concerns associated with the division of
furniture, as well as taking into account the need to systematise names for
existing and new designs of furniture, it is necessary to build a more or less
orderly and logical classification. Classification is the arrangement of objects,
including furniture, depending on the classes, sorts, types, forms and general
features. By building a useful classification of furniture, it can be divided
according to the following criteria:
• purpose—according to the place of use,
• functionality—according to the nature of human activity associated with
• this or other type of furniture piece,
• form and construction—defining the form and technical solutions of the
furni- ture piece, their mutual influence on each other and on the
surrounding environment,
• technology—determining the type of materials used, type of treatment, the
method of manufacture of the product and the methods of finishing the surface
and
• quality—characterising the most important requirements in the processes
of
design, construction, manufacture and exploitation of the furniture.

2.2.1 Groups of Furniture According to Their Purpose

In terms of purpose, i.e. the conditions and nature of use, furniture can be divided
into three distinct groups. For furnishing:
• offices and public buildings (office furniture, school furniture, dorm furniture,
hotel furniture, cinema furniture, hospital furniture, canteen furniture,
common room furniture, etc.),
• residential rooms in multi-family and free-standing buildings (flat furniture,
kitchen furniture, bathroom furniture, garden furniture) and
• transport (ship furniture, train furniture, aircraft furniture).
This division is extremely important, especially when shaping the technical
assumptions for a new product. The requirements and conditions of use included in
the design and manufacturing process are different for ship furniture, different for
office furniture and different for hospital or school furniture.
50 2 Classification and Characteristics of Furniture

In the group of furniture for offices and public buildings, there is

another subgroup related to specific human activities:
• furniture for administration,
• furniture for offices and studies and
• furniture for workers.
The nature of work and method of use of rooms in office buildings and public
buildings requires designing furniture intended for managers, group leaders,
assistants and secretaries, employees working in groups and individually, serving
internal and external clients. Within this group, the separate subgroups constitute
hospital furniture, school furniture, furniture for waiting areas at train stations,
airports, as well as restaurant and cafe furniture. The nature of these furniture
pieces should correspond to the specific requirements of many different and
often anon- ymous users. School and office furniture should be well suited to
the anthropo- metric parameters of individual groups of users. Hospital
furniture should be conducive to rehabilitation and should minimise the
negative phenomenon of prolonged pressure of the human body on a mattress or
seat. Furniture intended for use in waiting rooms is required to ensure high
durability and functionality, adapted to the nature of travel of prospective users.
Furniture for residential rooms in multi-family and free-standing buildings
should comply with the requirements of individuals and families, living together
in a house or flat, as well as be able to perfectly incorporate into the room and
make it possible to perform everyday activities in these rooms. The furniture
should meet all the functional needs of the following zones: relaxation and
lounging, sleep, work, learning, preparing and eating meals, physiological needs
and maintaining personal hygiene, and storage.
Marine, vehicular (car and train) and aircraft transportation have very high
demands in terms of quality of material used in the manufacture of furniture,
quality of make and safety of use of furniture built into the body of the
transport units carrying people.

2.2.2 Groups of Furniture According to Their Functionality

In terms of functionality, furniture can be divided into the following groups:

• for sitting and lounging,
• for reclining,
• for working and eating meals,
• for learning,
• for storage,
• multifunctional furniture and
• complementary furniture.
2.2 Classification of Furniture 51

Each of the given groups is characterised by specific properties and requirements:

• of exploitation, that is the character of the performed task,
• anthropotechnical, that is adjusting the user’s anthropotechnical characteristics
to the technical features of the operational object,
• sanitary and hygienic,
• pedagogical and
• construction.
A group of furniture for sitting and lounging comprises typical chairs,
tabourets, stools, pouffes and bar stools, which do not or only partially provide
support for the user’s back (Fig. 2 .3a–e), as well as armchairs, sofas, chaise
lounges and corner sofas, supporting the whole body or its major part (Fig. 2.3
f–i).
Furniture for reclining should ensure comfortable and continuous support of
the human body in a reclining position. There are, however, structures that not
only meet this basic function, but also provide support for the body in a sitting
position. For this reason, furniture for reclining can be divided into two subgroups
(Fig. 2.4):
• only with reclining function, such as beds, couches and mattresses (Fig. 2.4a–
c) and
• with a reclining and sitting function, such as folding sofas, sofas and corner
sofas (Fig. 2.4d–f). In this subgroup of furniture, the change of function can
be achieved by using fittings and accessories that enable to transform the
piece of

Fig. 2.3 Furniture for sitting and lounging: a chair, b tabouret, c stool, d pouffe, e bar stool,
f armchair, g sofa, h chaise lounge, i corner sofa
52 2 Classification and Characteristics of Furniture

Fig. 2.4 Furniture for reclining: a bed, b couch, c mattress, d folding sofa, e sofa, f corner sofa

furniture and unfold or fold the reclining surface. However, if the dimensions
of the seat are significant, the reclining function can be provided without the
need for transforming the geometry of the piece.
The group of furniture for working and eating meals mainly consists of tables,
table add-ons, desks, side tables, buffets and reception bays (Fig. 2.5). Tables can
be used to work, study, prepare and consume meals, games, as well as bases for
apparatus, instruments, flowers or lighting. Here, we distinguish tables for the
dining room, kitchen, conference rooms, construction offices, trade offices,
editorials of maga- zines, schools, kindergartens, etc. The tables for dining rooms
can usually change the geometry of the work surface, increasing its length and at
the same time, area for future users. Tables and desks for offices usually have a
fixed geometry of the work surface, but they have step or stepless adjustment of
its position height. The change of the geometry of the work surface of office
furniture is provided by applying side tables and add-ons. These furniture
pieces are designed by particu- larly considering the arrangement of devices and
objects that are the basic equip- ment of the workplace, including the
computer, telephone, notepad, writing supplies, binders and other office
accessories requiring compartments, drawers, boxes, slides, hangers and top
extensions. A problem at the design stage of the integration of form, function
and structure of the furniture piece is providing an exit and hiding cables
delivering certain media to electrical devices.
Reception bays are a unique type of furniture designed to work, for they are an
obvious flagship of an institution—they stand in the lobby or the hallway, where
clients are welcomed. They should not only enable the performance of precision
work in a sitting position, but also hard work in a standing position.
2.2 Classification of Furniture 53

Fig. 2.5 Furniture for work and dining: a table and table add-on, b side table, c desk, d buffet,
e reception bayt

Furniture for learning is primarily benches, pupil tables, drafting tables and
davenports (Fig. 2 . 6). When designing furniture belonging to this group, in
par- ticular school furniture, one must anticipate a different than normative structure
load and guarantee the furniture’s adequate stiffness, strength and stability. One
must also remember to use such structural components for which the designer
has cer- tificates of their complete non-toxicity.
The group of storage furniture represents cabinets, bookcases, shelves,
dressers, chests of drawers, cabinets, containers, dressing tables and library
bookcases
(Fig. 2.7). This is most numerous and diverse group of furniture, with a wide
variety of forms and dimensions depending on the type, shape and size of the
stored items.

Fig. 2.6 Furniture for learning: a bench, b pupil’s table, c drafting table, d davenport
54 2 Classification and Characteristics of Furniture

Fig. 2.7 Furniture for storage: a wardrobe, b bookcase, c shelf, d dresser, e chest of drawers,
f buffet, g container, h dressing table, i library bookcase

Depending on the degree of connection with the room, furniture from this group
can be divided into mobile (not connected to the construction elements of the
room, e.g. containers, chests of drawers, cabinets, buffets and chests) and
stationary (con- nected impermanently with the construction elements of the
room, e.g. wall cup- boards, shelves, partitions or tall standing cupboards).
Multifunctional furniture originated from the need to meet the many
different needs of users. These needs appeared for a number of reasons. The first
were the
dreams of wealthy clients of having products that were unique in form, with
sur- prising technical solutions, and enabling users to meet several practical
adminis-
trative needs. Modern multifunctional furniture pieces are often adapted
by
necessity to minimum living space, the nature of work and financial
possibilities of future owners. Usually, multifunctional furniture can be found
among sofas with a reclining function, couch beds, couch shelves, escritoires
for work and storage (Fig. 2.8).
The group of complementary furniture constitutes flower beds, covers,
partition
walls and side tables. Mostly, they are manufactured for individual needs of
clients who are furnishing their rooms completely and expecting a uniform
form, con- struction and technology of manufacture in order to maintain
consistency of the interior’s look and aesthetics.
2.2 Classification of Furniture 55

Fig. 2.8 Multifunctional furniture: a sofa with reclining function, b couch bed, c couch shelf

2.2.3 Groups of Furniture According to Their Form

and Construction

The characteristics of form and construction of the furniture piece are determined
on the basis of spatial organisation of form, interconnection of main structural
com- ponents and architectural structure of the product. Depending on the spatial
orga- nisation of the form, i.e. from the spatial distribution of individual elements
of the furniture piece, three basic schemes of furniture can be distinguished (Fig.
2.9):

Fig. 2.9 Spatial organisation of the form of the furniture piece: a with an open spatial structure,
b with a partially open spatial structure, c with a volume spatial structure
56 2 Classification and Characteristics of Furniture

• with an open spatial structure, in which linear and surface elements dominate,
• with a partially open spatial structure, in which linear, surface and volume
elements can dominate and
• with a volume spatial structure, in which volume elements dominate with
small participation of linear and surface elements.
In furniture with a volume spatial structure, an additional feature can be
distin- guished—modularity. This feature of furniture increases functionality,
many vari- ants of use, as well as quality of the designed and furnished
interiors. Modular furniture is designed on the basis of a body with a universal
structure of elements, which maintains unified and repetitive closed dimensions
in universal templates, with the possibility of any completion and decompletion of
the system. Completion of systems can be done vertically, horizontally and
matrixwise by using a system of simple connections between the elementary
solids of furniture. Depending on the design, modular furniture can be divided
into (Fig. 2.10):
• single-bodied,
• multi-bodied,
• universal for completion,
• on a frame and
• for hanging.

Fig. 2.10 Examples of modular furniture

2.2 Classification of Furniture 57

Due to the method of binding certain structural components, subassemblages and

assemblages, furniture can be divided into:
• non-disassembling, produced in the form of compact blocks, which makes
their disassembly impossible,
• disassembling, produced in the form of solids that provide the possibility of
repeatable disassembly and reassembly and
• for individual assembly, sold in packages containing elements for repeatable
assembly and disassembly.
Taking into account the characteristics arising from the design of the furniture, two
main groups can be distinguished:
• case and
• skeletal.
Case furniture is built mainly from panel elements, in which thickness is several
times smaller than the other dimensions. Typically, these elements are located
relative to each other in such a way that closes space from five or six sides.
Depending on the relative positions of the external elements of the furniture
piece’s body, two subgroups of case furniture have been distinguished (Fig. 2.11
):
• flange, in which the top and bottom of the furniture piece (called flanges) are
placed from the top and the bottom on the side walls. In this case, the upper
element is called the top flange and the bottom element, the bottom flange.
Such a piece of furniture can be supported on legs, a frame or a socle,
• rack, which are characterised by the fact that the top and bottom of the
furniture piece can be found between the side walls. In this case, the structural
solutions for the base part are as follows: the furniture piece can be supported
on legs, a frame, socle, or on extensions of the side walls to the bottom, which
are called racks.

Fig. 2.11 The division of case furniture depending on the relative positions of the sides, and top
and bottom of the furniture piece: a flange, b rack
58 2 Classification and Characteristics of Furniture

Fig. 2.12 The division of case furniture depending on the design of visible parts: a slat, b frame
panel, c board

Fig. 2.13 Body of furniture placed on a socle, b frame, c legs

Due to the nature of the structure, visible parts or external elements, case furniture
is divided into (Fig. 2.12):
• slat,
• frame panel and
• board.
Given the solutions of designing support construction of case furniture, bases are
distinguished in the form of a socle, a frame and legs (Fig. 2.13).
Depending on the construction and the technological characteristics, the fol-
lowing furniture is distinguished:
• segment, in which structure, external dimensions and functionality allow their
vertical or horizontal configuration and
• compact, built from elements of unified dimensions and construction solutions
that enable folding any suites of different purposes and dimensions.