CHAIRS

This book presents the ubiquitous chair in all its shapes and forms and glory. The authors made a selection of all the best examples from 1000 Chairs and packed them into this pocketable book. This selection for this survey of the chair begins in the early 19th century, when the first attempts were made to shift the chair from the realm of the crafted object to that of the designed product. The examples selected are virtually all products of the avant-garde. Whether the result of mechanised production or traditional craftsmanship, what they have in common is their powerfully argued rhetoric. Beyond matters of function and structure, the fundamental worth of chairs, past or present, lies in their communication of attitudes, ideas and values. The persuasiveness of a chair depends on the clarity of its rethoric. The clearer the argument, the more likely it is that connections will be made, either consciously or subconsciously, and it is the quality of these connections, more than anything else, that determines the ultimates success of a chair.