Chair

by Massey, Anne

• ISBN13: 9781861897589
• ISBN10: 1861897588
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-02-15
• Publisher: Reaktion Books

Summary

@font-face { font-family: #x0022;Times New Roman#x0022;;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: #x0022;Times New Roman#x0022;; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }Wesit on one every day in our home, school or office. Yet how often do we thinkabout the origins of the chair or of its place in the world? This book providesan anatomy of the chair and its history, and even considers the predeterminedways in which we interact with others when seated, for a chair can communicatethe authority of its owner, the sitter, and even the creator. During the lastone hundred years it has become established as a revered object of design.Examples, such as the Eames Lounge chair, Verner Panton#x2019;s S Chair, HermanMiller#x2019;s Aeron office chair, and Jasper Morrison#x2019;s Air chair, have beenphotographed for glossy magazines, exhibited in art museums and galleries, andsometimes slavishly copied in knock-off cheaper models. Other, more humble,chairs have also reached iconic status, such as Van Gogh#x2019;s chair, or likeShaker chairs have become emblematic of a simpler and purer lifestyle. Chairshave been crafted, constructed in a remarkable variety of traditional andsynthetic materials, and mass manufactured, often locally but now increasinglyin faraway factories for global distribution. This book elucidates the meaningof the chair in contemporary culture and of the nature of the relationshipbetween this pivotal object and designers and manufacturers.Drawing on design andart, popular culture and personal experience, Chairis anengaging and informative biography of an everyday object, and will appeal toanyone interested in why we choose, or are made, to sit on the chairs we do.