Sitting

FOLDING CHAIRS

A Folding chair has been an important piece of furniture in households for centuries, since ancient Egyptians to current 21th century. For many centuries folding chairs was used for ceremonial events or to show the prized status of the owner. However as era changed, a folding chair became a symbol for functional (and usually with affordable price) furniture that can maximize the portability and/or that can be shrunken in means of size in order to be stored with ease in a small space.


2000 BC
Egyptians


Egyptian folding stool was developed 2000-1500BC as a portable chair for the commanding officer in the army. Also Tutankhamun’s throne was a foldable seat with a back support; both the furniture that remained and paintings in ancient tombs show how foldable seat behaved as a symbol of authority. Much later the folding stool as a ceremonial chair developed in two ways: secular and Christianity.



800 AD

Medieval Europe

In medieval Europe, Franconia, times it was emphasized that the crossing “X” structure which became a symbol of authority; the crossed legs would be facing front instead of facing the side. The throne of Dagobert I, King of the Franconians, is a good example. The furniture is heavily ornamented because of the development of new tools and working method, and also because of the will of higher class society to differentiate themselves from the others.




1600 AD
Renaissance

This is also the time when a folding chair could actually fold for convinience. Before this era, most of the chairs were impossible to fold even if it had a crossed leg. Sedia della forbice, or the scissors chair, can be found in early medieval period, followed by the 'sedia a tenaglia' (the pincer chair). However during the baroque period chairs with crossed legs were not always foldable, especially during the period of
louis XIV-XVI, when the 'X' structure contained an exclusive value to it. The field chair of Napoleon I (or the ‘fauteuil’) is a ancestor of the director’s chair in the 20th century.



1700 AD

End of Renaissance

In 18th century Europe, a folding chair became an integral part of domestic furnishings. The return to rich decoration during the baroque period meant that chairs with crossed legs were not always foldable, especially during the period of louis XIV – XVI when the 'X' structure had exclusively symbolic value once again. A renaissance chair was the most popular kind in this era. The majority of the chairs of all countries until the middle of the 17th century were of oak without upholstery with leather sometimes employed a cushion; subsequently velvet and silk were extensively used, and at a later period cheaper and more durable materials.




2000 AD

Modern Design

By the 19th century, folding chairs became a widespread utilitarian feature of public spaces where there is regular need to rearrange or remove the seating. Chairs no longer is a symbol of wealthiness after the boom of industrialization; even the richest use simple-shaped chairs and the poor may have X-shaped chairs - because the price is much more affordable.
Today designer’s main goal of designing a folding chair is to create a basic seating surface that is comfortable for a short time and be stored/moved easily by folding it up. A good example is a folding chair in military use – military objects respond above all to precise, immediate functionalities. But it was never designed to be beautiful. This solution of design, ironically, comes from the previous ‘Napoleonic fauteuil’ from the Renaissance when ornaments were greatly appreciated.

However appreciating functionality did not mean the death of aesthetic beauty of folding chairs. Recent technology had boosted the product designers to adapt and develop new uses of new materials with new uses and new design solutions. Modern furniture designs often possess reduced the status value of the object, and the uniqueness and innovative design is very stressed.

A great example of chair design that fully serves its purpose as functionality is cardboard chair designed by Gary Ramler. 400,000 of this cardboard chairs (and tables) were produced as the official furniture supplier for the Sydney Olympic games in 2000. This chair cannot be folded, but is demountable and uses very cheap material that also can be recycled after its use. It doesn’t have durability like other materials have, but it is designed to focus on how to use a nature-friendly material that can be mass-produced and assembled in seconds. The chair was designed with triangular geometry to support even the most heavy-weighed athletes in Olympics. The chairs could last for three years or longer, but it did have a disadvantage; it could not handle rain. Thus the chairs were used only indoors (except swim-related buildings).






This is a chardboard chair/writing desk designed by RISD student in ID department in 2006. No cuts, no glue, no tape was used in building the furniture. Over 110,000 viewers watched this short video on Youtube and many were asking for the tutorial. There are many other videos posted up by RISD students on Youtube, so you may want to check them all out!



As the world's population grow and industries get bigger, many designers are looking for a method that has the most efficient way to use a low-cost material into both functional and aesthetic piece of furniture. However there also are many designers who strive for purely aesthetic design rather than focusing on the functionality, like non-portable chairs emerging out of the wall/floor or an expensive chair made of thousands of CDs and metal that cannot be moved without a help of machinery.

The design movement in Bauhaus had inspired countless number of designers to strive for functionalism in 20th and 21st century, and I think it is evolving its way through and is changing every day; however one thing I believe in is that the designers will continue to produce furnitures that are affordable for more people by using low-cost material and production method because of the growing population and economic collapse that has been occuring through out the world these days.