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_chairs _
By: dane brown
For my Investigation into chair designs I choose to investigate how simplistic
and basic the chairs have become. From Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who was
renowned for his style and applied decoration to Philippe Stark who has taken
simplistic to another level. I have investigated how the designers have used
applied decoration to enhance the look of their chair, to how functional the
pieces are (or in some cases un-functional! ). HIGH BACKED CHAIR - CHARLES
RENNIE MACKINTOSH - 1902 Mackintosh produced designs on a whole range of
furnishings as well as his architectural designs. Many of these were purely
functional but he also produced many artistic pieces throughout his life.
Because of the large amount of applied decoration on Macintoshs pieces that
it could be argued that each piece is a finely detailed work of art itself.
Probably the most famous of such pieces are his famous high backed chairs. The
high backed chair I have chosen to study was made for the International
Exhibition of modern Decorative Art, held in Turin in Italy in 1902 The chair
appears to have a very low seat, being only a quarter of the height of the
actual chair, this also may perhaps be due to the fact the seat is fairly
broad at the front, widening out from a fairly narrow back. The back of the
chair is as wide as the back of the seat but tapers towards the top. This main
support is framed with two tall slim struts. The construction of the low seat
and tapering back makes the chair look almost abstract because of these
bizarre proportions. In the photograph it looks as if the picture has been
taken from a strange angle which has distorted the shape. There is little in
the way of applied decoration on the chair except for the back, which on a
portion is padded and covered in a light blue-grey colour. On this is a
painted stylised rose bush design that fills the width of the padded portion.
Beneath this is what appears to be wilting petals falling from the bush. At
the top of the chair carved into a piece of wood is an organic form of sorts
with the typical Art Nouveau whiplash stretching the length of it. Mackintosh
was renowned for his stylised design - taking the natural form of something,
for example a flower, and altering it to fit his style - this could possibly
be a very developed stylised design Against the white wood work of this design
is a sort of mauve glass shape incorporated into the organic form. In my
opinion there came a time in Macintoshs career where his high backed chairs
became so unfunctional that they were merely being produced to be pleasing to
the eye. They were almost made as sculptures and not for their practicality.
NXT STACKING CHAIR - PETER KARPF - 1991 As compared to Mackintoshs high
backed chair Peter Karpfs NXT Stacking chair is extremely functional. This
simple looking chair is constructed from one piece of wood joined using metal
rods and a number of small disks to give it its flowing shape. The light
weight chair was created by using thin layers of natural wood and altering the
direction of the grain. The legs of the chair appear quite high though this
may be an illusion created by the shape. The legs and seat of this chair form
an off square shape. The seat is slightly curved for comfort while the back is
arched for the same reason. The designer seams to have taken immense liberties
with the materials he has used. The wooded seat and the two legs are machine
made not hand crafted. This stacking chair is a far cry from Macintoshs high
backed chair. The chair has no applied decoration what so ever yet it manages
to be stylishly simple and very modern. This chair would fit in with most
modern decor. Because it is designed for function Karpf has stripped his
designed back to basics. With this most elementary design Karpf has taken the
streamlining of Art Deco into another dimension. Its curved decoration reminds
me of Art Nouevaus curved whiplash line. This chair is not only designed for
function but a very special function, to be stacked as its name suggests and
these chairs obviously stack very well. I like this chair, it has no applied
decoration but the design its self is the real art. GOD RAYSSE - PHILIPPE
STARK - 1987 I can only describe this chair as an upside down drip. It seems
to completely change form as you look as it: from a serpents head to an
animals hind leg. Its opaque square base only serves to emphasise its gravity
defying form of the design. The chrome finish is reminiscent of a space
shuttle design. This design was very popular, especially in American dinners
due to a revival of 50s style. The chair has a bar just up from the base to
rest your feet on. The seat of the chair is merely a continuation of the
drip flattened out to accommodate the sitter. The chair, with its total lack
of decoration has taken simplistic design to another realm. The art of the
chair is its gravity defying form. This chair may be pleasing to the eye but I
do not think it would be advisable to sit on it for any length of time. I
imagine it may be not only uncomfortably but feel very unstable. Overall I
like the appearance of this chair, I like the style of Stark and the shape he
has streamlined to form this amazing and original design. THE PEPE CHAIR -
CHRIS CONNELL - 1993 My last choice of chair was selected because it is some
what reminiscent of Mackintoshs high backed chairs. The Pepe chair also has a
high back and fairly low base. The back arches back slightly this reminds me
of a giraffe from a childrens cartoon. With its bright pink colour I think
it has a slightly comical appearance to it. It has a generous, large padded
seat and an extremely narrow back widening towards the top. The body looks
some what out of proportion to the clumsy legs. It looks rather cumbersome to
sit on but I suppose it was designed as a sort of fun chair as opposed to a
dining room chair. This chair has no applied decoration, but the extremely
bright colour of the fabric the chair is covered in adds plentiful character
to the chair. The function of this chair is to be fun, to add character to
someones dining room and I think that this chair would look good in any room
regardless of the decor. From this investigation I was surprised by the range
of different styles and forms that a chair could take. I enjoyed the form of
the God Raysse, but my favourite would have to be the Pepe Chair by far due to
its larger than life personality. From the classic, traditional designers
like Macintosh who revolutionised and popularised the style of Art Nouveau and
to this day still has an impact and influence on designers world wide whether
it be on furniture, windows or clothes, to modern designers who have also
revolutionised the simplistic style making it take many forms from drips
to giraffes. For instance the Pepe Chair took the high backed chair and gave
it a modern day simplistic twist. Who knows where our rears shall sit in years
to come? Shall we be sitting on more simplistic designs than the ones I have
used as examples in this investigation or pieces complex beyond the
imagination. Who knows? We shall just have to wait and see where our bums
shall lead us!
Word Count: 1298
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