Marcus Sly - Furniture Making and Design

The Chair: Rethinking, Culture, Body and Design.  Chairs are so much a part of our cultural furniture that it is easy to take them for granted.  The presence of chairs in our lives seems so natural that it is easy to forget that they have only comparatively recently come into widespread use - and even now are not used in many parts of the world.  Cranz reminds us of this and takes us on an invigorating tour of the history of the chair - not only from the point of view of form and structure, but also in terms of their cultural significance and, most importantly, in terms of their relationship to the body.  This is an aspect of chair design which is surprisingly often overlooked.

Cranz, who is a professor of architecture and an Alexander Technique Teacher, argues that the chair is a rather unnatural and harmful invention, and that the vast majority of chairs are badly designed from the body's point of view.  He claims that poor chair design plays a huge part in the epidemic of back problems suffered by people in the western world, and goes on to commment on the problems inherent in many famous designs.  Interestingly, many so called "ergonmic" chairs" also come in for criticism.  He goes on to suggest ways in which these problems can be ameliorated in chair design.  Some of these ideas are quite radical.

This book is a useful reference for anyone involved in making furniture.  It reminds us that we have a responsibility not only make things which look nice, but that we should should also strive to make things which are not physically harmful to the people who use them.  Furthermore it offers new ways to think about chairs which could be a source of inspiration for those who wish to explore radical new forms in their furniture making.  It would also make good reading for anyone who is about to buy a chair perhaps saving them much discomfort - or worse.

This book is bublished by W W Norton & Co Ltd, 2000