Of all furniture needs, the chair may be primary. While the majority of other pieces (apart from the bed) are designed to support objects, the chair supports our human form. The term chair can be used here in the larger sense, from stool to throne to developed chairs such as the bench and sofa, which can be looked upon as extended or connected chairs, and whose character (i.e., whether they are intended for sitting or reclining) is not obviously distinguished.
The social history of the chair is as exciting as its history as art and craft. The chair is not just a physical support and aesthetic item; it was historically a signifier of social status. From the Medieval royal courts there were social signifiers between having a chair with arms, on a chair with a back but no arms, or having to squat on a stool. In the recent century, a director’s and manager’s chair has been a symbol of superior position, as well as in democratic governments the speaker sits on a high-set floor.
As its furniture form, the chair ranges from a number of different makes. There are chairs created to suit man’s age and physical abilities (the high chair, the wheelchair) and for his rank in society (the executive chair, the throne). During the past there were chairs for birthing (birth chairs); in the 20th century, there have been chairs used for ending life (the electric chair). We have chairs with one, two, three, and/or four legs, chairs with or without arms, and chairs with or without backs. We make chairs that can be folded and put away, chairs on wheels, and chairs on runners.
Our modern lifestyle has designated special chairs in automobiles and aircraft. All of these chair shapes have been perfected to fit to changing human needs. For its unique relationship with man, the chair comes to its full meaning only when being utilised. Although it does not make a difference to one’s appreciation of a cupboard or a set of drawers if there might be items inside or not, a chair is best seen and evaluated with a person sitting on it, for chair and sitter require each other. Thus the individual elements of a chair were given labels corresponding to the limbs of our human form: arms, legs, feet, back, and seat.
Because the basic work of a chair is to support a human body, its credit is judged generally for how completely it does measure up to this practical purpose. Within the design of the chair, the designer is restricted by particular static rules and principal measurements. Under these restrictions, however, the chair creator has extensive freedom.
The history of the chair is an era of several thousand years. There are societies that have created individual chair types, as expressions of the highest work in the spheres of craft and aesthetics. Within those societies, special mention must be made of ancient Egypt and Greece; China; Spain and The Netherlands in the 17th century; England in the 18th century; and France in the 18th century during the lifetimes of Louis XV and Louis XVI.
Egypt
Two ancient Egyptian chair forms, both the objects of expert scheme, were a finding from tomb findings. First of the two is a four-legged chair with a back, the other a folding stool. The classical Egyptian chair would have had four legs crafted not unlike those of a particular animal, a curved seat, and leading to a sloping back supported above vertical stretchers. In this design a stable triangular structure was created. There appears to be no notable difference in the structure of Egyptian thrones and chairs for regular non-royals. The main variation was in the level of ornamentation, in the evidence of more costly inlays. The Egyptian folding stool in all probability was developed to be an easily carried seat for officers. As a camp stool this kind stayed around for much later periods. But the stool also then played the task of a ceremonial seat, its mechanical task as a folding stool fast forgotten. This can today be observed, from as early as 1366–57 BC in two stools, created in ebony with ivory inlay decoration and gold mounts, from the tomb of Tutankhamen. They are made in the form of folding stools but are not able to be folded as the seats were made with wood. The simplistic construction of the folding stool, composed of two frames that turn on metal bolts and hold a seat of leather or fabric secured between them, appeared but some time later in the Bronze Age folding chairs of Scandinavia and northern Germany. The most well known of those is the folding stool, crafted from ashwood, now found at Guldhøj (National Museum in Copenhagen).
Greece and Rome
The iconic Greek chair, the klismos, is recognised not as any ancient object still in form but as found in a wealth of pictorial items. The better recognised is the klismos placed on the Hegeso Stele at the Dipylon burial location by Athens (c. 410 BC). The klismos is a chair that had a backward-sloping, curved backboard and four curving legs, only two of those legs would be seen. These creative legs were presumably manufactured in bent wood and were probably needed to bear extreme pressure under the weight of the sitter. The joints fastening the legs to the frame of the seat had to be therefore very stable and were overtly indicated.
The Romans adopted the Greek designs; some casts of seated Romans display evidence of a heavier and in appearance rather less delicately constructed klismos. Both designs, the light or the heavy, were brought back as part of the Classicist era. The klismos design is found in French Empire styles, in English Regency, and in special types of marked individuality of Denmark and Sweden from 1800.
China
The past of the chair in China is not able to be followed as long as the history of chairs in Egypt and Greece. Since the time of the Tang dynasty (AD 618–907) a full series of drawings and artworks had been kept safe, detailing the interior and outer parts of Chinese buildings and the furniture. Also preserved since the 16th century are some chairs of wood or lacquered wood, that possess an intriguing similarity to representations of older chairs.
As in Egypt, two chair designs persisted in China: a chair having four legs and a folding stool. That chair was found both with and without arms though always with a square seat and straight stiles (upright side supports) to firm the back. In one kind, though, the stiles are marginally curved over the arms in order to sit right with the angle of the S-shaped back splat (the basic upright of the chairback). All three areas were mortised in the yoke-like top rail. Though the style of this back splat exercised a foundation for English chairs within the Queen Anne period, wooden members that would only to a particular limit support corner joints (and were loose into the bargain) signify an element particular to Chinese chairs. The four legs sit through the seat frame, which stops over the rounded staves. All members are round in section or possesses rounded edges—acknowledging as may be to the bamboo tradition. The seat is not comfortable and had on occasion a plaited texture. These chairs demanded of the sitter to remain stiff and upright; if too much pressure is placed on the back, the chair has a habit of collapsing. In patriarchal Chinese homes of this epoch armchairs probably were kept only for senior family members, for they were held in great esteem.
The Chinese folding stool is thought to have travelled to China from the West. It is akin very much from the Egyptian and Scandinavian folding stools, but it possesses a change in that the top rail is intricately held to the two legs of the stool with a curved member, which is generally designed with metal mounts. From a Western perspective the ultimate effect of these two furniture forms is stylized. The structure and aesthetic aspects are combined in a way that is both naïve and refined. The patchwork appearance is an outcome of the manner that the individual items do not look to have been fixed together with either glue or screws, but are mortised onto one another and locked into place in the manner of a Chinese puzzle.
Spain: 17th century
The Golden Age of Spain during the 17th century also left its signature on the chair. Works of art project a design of chair with a relatively unrefined wooden frame; a back and seat, nailed on, possessing two layers of leather, with horsehair stuffing in between, stitched to produce a pattern of little pads. The front board and a similar board from the back could be folded after unscrewing some small iron hooks. Therefore the chair was a portable piece of furniture when traveling which, during the same time, gave the dignity of a four-legged, high-backed armchair.
The Netherlands: 17th century
A low, square, upholstered type of chair is displayed in engravings of interiors of wealthy Dutch homes by Abraham Bosse, a French artist, as well as in paintings by the Dutch artists Johannes Vermeer and Gerard Terborch. Though this kind of chair might also be made in countries where Dutch styles of interior decoration and Dutch furniture won acclaim, it is not determined that the form actually started in The Netherlands. Usually, the legs of the chair are smooth, round in section, and of slim shape; they are sometimes baluster-shaped (vase-shaped) or twisted. It is patently a bourgeois piece of furniture and was made in vast numbers, as can be seen from one of Abraham Bosse’s engravings, in which there is a row of this kind of chairs lined up along a wall. The form asserts itself with its harmonious proportions and expensive upholstery in gilt leather or fabric bordered with fringes.
France and England: 17th and 18th centuries
The French Rococo chair in its most mature of styles—that is to say, as brought out in Paris around 1750—disseminated through most of Europe and was imitated or copied during the mid-20th century. The style owes such popularity to a combination of comfort and charm. The seat conforms to the human body and grants a relaxed sitting position. The back is bow-shaped, the legs curved. Generally the seat and back are upholstered, and there are little upholstered pads over the armrests. Smooth transitions are made between seat frame, legs, and back cover all the joints, which are stable, constructed on craftsmanlike practices in spite of the absence of stretchers between the legs.
French Rococo chairs and imitations of them use wood of quite thick density; but all the members are deeply molded, all superfluous wood has been taken away, and finer chairs can be further embellished with intricately delicate and decorative carvings. The wood may be varnished, stained, painted, or gilded. Silk damask or tapestry is usually used for all the upholstery on the seat, back, and armrests; canework is occasionally used rather than upholstery.
English chairs from the 18th century were more varied in design than the French. The French taste for stylistic uniformity, which disseminated from the most distinguished circles in Paris and Versailles within most of France and found favour in several parts of the Continent, had no parallel in England. Prior to 1740, the most commonly used wood was walnut; thereafter, and for the rest of the century, it was mahogany. Walnut, though beautiful in hue, was soft and therefore less suited to wood carving than to rounded, curving forms. Outer surfaces, such as the back and seat frame, were usually veneered. During the walnut period, highly overstuffed armchairs, covered with leather or embroidered material, were also developed. The best upholstery of this period is precisely and firmly modelled and accentuated by braiding or tacks. When imports of mahogany became common, no specifically new chair designs appeared, but the character of the woodwork changed. Mahogany, having a firmer, closer grain, could be cut thinner, which meant that individual parts of the chair could be more slender in shape. Mahogany also lent itself better to carving than walnut. Carving was concentrated more on the arms and back than on the legs, which as a rule were straight and smooth with chamfered (bevelled) edges and molding. There was a wealth of variety in chairback designs, featuring elegant, pierced, vase-shaped splats or two upright posts connected by horizontal slats (ladderback).
Alongside the French Rococo chair and the best English chairs in walnut and mahogany, the stick-back chair was relatively unaffected by the stylistic changes of the day. Originally a medieval form, known, for example, from paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder and still found in mid-20th century in the churches and inns of southern Europe, the stick-back chair (in all of its variations) consists basically of a solid, saddle-shaped seat into which the legs, back staves, and possibly the armrests are directly mortised. This typically peasant form underwent a renewal and a process of refinement in England and America during the 18th century. Under the name Windsor chair (a term that seems to have been used for the first time in 1731) or Philadelphia chair, it became well-known and was widely distributed throughout the world.
Late 18th to 20th century
Within the Neoclassical period, no basic changes took place in chair forms, but legs became straight and dimensions lighter. Backs in the shape of classical vases replaced the fanciful outlines of the Rococo period. Around 1800, freely executed imitations of Greek and Roman chairs of the klismos type, with curved legs and backrest, appeared. French chairs of the Empire period, executed in dark mahogany and embellished with ornate bronze mounts, created a ponderous effect.
In cheaper products of inferior workmanship, bourgeois chairs of the 19th century carried on the traditions of the 17th and 18th centuries. The only real innovations were the bentwood (wood that has been bent and shaped) chairs in beech that became popular all over the world and were still made in the 20th century. Around 1900 the continental Art Nouveau and Jugendstil styles (French and German styles characterized by organic foliate forms, sinuous lines, and non-geometric forms), and the Arts and Crafts movement in England (established by the English poet and decorator William Morris to reintroduce idealized standards of medieval craftsmanship), gave rise to original chair designs by Eugène Gaillard in France, Henry van de Velde in Belgium, Josef Hoffman in Austria, Antonio Gaudí in Spain, and Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Scotland. These new furniture styles did not exercise wide, let alone decisive, influence. The Art Nouveau chairs designed by the French architect Hector Guimard, for example, are collector’s pieces, but his name is known to a broader public only because of his fanciful entrances to the Paris Métro.
Modern
After World War I, the Bauhaus school in Germany became a creative centre for revolutionary thinking, resulting, for example, in tubular steel chairs designed by the architects Marcel Breuer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and others. During World War II, the aircraft industry accelerated the development of laminated wood and molded plastic furniture. The dominant chair forms of this period go back to designs by Alvar Aalto, Bruno Mathsson, and Charles and Ray Eames. Rapid technical developments, in conjunction with an ever-increasing interest in human-factors engineering, or ergonomics, suggest that completely new chair forms will probably be evolved in the future.
For a great deal on executive furniture in Brisbane contact Fast Office Furniture today and check our specials.
Sphere: Related Content
Tangalooma Island Resort is an earthly haven found in Tangalooma, Queensland in Australia. It was formerly a whaling station and was turned into an island getaway because of its distinctive flora and fauna and its stunning views. Couples or families hunting down a great vacation destination can expect to undoubtedly cherish a Tangalooma Island Resort holiday.
Hawaii is home to many beautiful vacation destinations and holiday reservations to these tropical islands can be made by Travel Online. This iconic tourist destination is well-known for its pristine beaches, moderate climate, world-standard shopping facilities, and distinctive Polynesian culture.