Statements Materials and Technology Contemporary Chairs and Movements
Statements, Materials and Technology: Contemporary Chairs and Movements “A designer once made the perfect chair so perfect was it that it was not there He boasted about its immaculate form and use so righteous that it changed with his flux of thought A faultless chair was all concepts evolving at once but a faultless chair cannot exist he announced See! ... -Cheshire Cat- (Wall 1994) Chan Kah Hoe 300061750 Reactions and rebellions against the established academia of the generation has brought forth some of the greatest thinkers and advances in science and technology, stretching back to that Renaissance scientists and artists, Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo, through to the Classicist doctrine of the 18th century. ... More specifically, the hunt for newer, more effective materials to work with defines civilizations. ... This essay would chronicle the evolution of furniture of the past 70 years, beginning with the modern movement of the 1930s through post-modernism of the 1960s and concluding with the emergence of supermodernism in the 1990s with a focus on the influences of materials and new technology on industrial design. ... New technology and materials gave designers a whole new field in which to create. ... Tubular steel chairs, such as Marcel Breuer’s Wassily chair, also known as the Club Chair Model B3 were introduced to the interiors of domestic spaces. ... If we use metal in conjunction with leather for chairs? ... The chair’s exposed construction and structural clarity also implies a clear and direct connection between raw materials and the finished product, yet presents a paradox of visual weightlessness. ... This new technology allowed for a move away from traditional rigid wood furniture and produced a range of curvilinear furniture. ... Post-war military funded research into such technology allowed for mass production of certain designs, including many by Charles and Ray Eames, especially their designs for Herman Miller, one of the largest furniture companies in America. Charles and Ray Eames made the most of molded plywood, with a series of successful molded plywood chairs: the LCW (Lounge Chair Wood), the LCM (Lounge Chair Metal), the DCW (Dining Chair Wood), and the DCM (Dining Chair Metal) between 1945 and 1946. ... experience of working with molded plywood when developing splints and stretchers for the US Navy played a significant role in the growth of this technology in furniture production. ... The obvious utopian theme through his work was strongly supported by the ability of the plastics technology to produce such items. ... The energy crisis of the 1970s forced designers to consider other materials besides plastic (a petroleum derivative) or to use it cautiously, as scarcity of the material pushed prices up. In part, material choice in this case led to even more obvious political narratives and statements.