TAKING A SEAT
For many years, designers from all corners of the world have tried to design a new type of chair. Innovation is incredible as they strive to stand out in a market which to call saturated would be an understatement. Every month I receive at least 2 'industry magazines' which in theory relate to all aspects of our market.
To glance through you would be forgiven to think that our market exclusively involved sitting down as you see advert for chair after chair after seat after stool after chair... you get the picture. In fact I often play a game where I try to get through the entire magazine (often 150+ pages) trying to spot a chair free spread!
'FX Magazine - The Business of Design'
is a perfect example of an industry specific publication which my uncle (also in the furniture business) would call a 'chair mag'. In fact it was him that brought this phenomenon to my attention.That having been said, it's great to see what designers can come up with when forced to innovate. I suppose you could liken it to the music industry where some believe that it has 'all been done before' but every now and again you still get unique anthemic tracks which endure. When you get a fresh bright eyed young designer not constrained by conformity they design a completely new sitting down experience which quirky corporations decide would be perfect for their receptions.
The Future of Sitting Down
You could think that in a few years we won't even recognise what it is to sit down any more, but ever since Ingvar Kamprad screwed the legs of his coffee table and invented IKEA, modern design has flourished and chair after chair after stool after chair have been created like there were a world shortage of places to sit. There's no sign that that will stop any time soon, and I guess old styles will simply get recycled just like bad pop records.
Recently we caved and thought that a funky chair would add a little variation to our otherwise highly utilitarian range of chairs. Primarily we supply chairs and stools for drawing boards which really have to be the epitome of practical, but as we discovered we can have our cake and eat it.
Someone out there has designed a space age chair with ergonomic and environmental credentials to sink a battle ship of pandas whilst still letting you actually sit down. Watch this:
Apparently this video wasn't even staged, this is actually what happens which you sit on a HAG Capisco drafting chair, but possibly you have to be ginger or wearing a wig.
