Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Metal 15
Synthetic material 91
Wood 119
Natural material 243
Biographies 257
Bibliographies 265
Index 267
Acknowledgements 269
5
Introduction
To aficionados, a book bearing the simple title of Stoelen (Chairs)
functions as the primary source of information on the collection
of chairs belonging to the Faculty (formerly Department) of
Architecture at Delft University of Technology. There were at
least two editions of this book: one edited by Harm de Jong and
published in 1974, and a second published by Delft University
Press in 1980. Although the collection was the point of departure
for both of these books, the publications were also supplemented
by interesting designs that did not belong to the collection
itself. Unfortunately, in the last few years these publications
have only been available in antiquarian bookshops.
For a lengthy period of time, the collection was managed
with varying degrees of attentiveness, depending on the people
involved, but it generally led a marginal existence. Recently,
however, the necessary steps have been taken to generate a
favourable climate for the continuing existence of the collection.
New accommodation has been arranged with the aid of the
Mondriaan Foundation, and all the chairs have undergone
conservation treatment. In 2002, the collection was entrusted
to the Institute for History of Art Architecture and Urbanism,
IHAAU.
The renewed vigour applied to the collection has resulted in
additional acquisitions in the form of loans and donations from
companies and private parties. Moreover, a number of older
chairs from the Sluyterman collection have been added to the
collection. The expansion of the collection, improved dating and
attribution, and the urge to manage the collection in a more
active manner were all reasons to issue a new publication with
the aim of bringing the chairs to the attention of the general
public once again.
In this book, you will not always find the design classics with
which you may be familiar from books on modern design, or
splendid antique items that are on display in museums. But you
will become acquainted with a collection of furniture that
illustrates what it actually means to be a designer. The
collection was initiated with the objective of supporting design
education, and this goal is reflected in the collection criteria:
material use, construction, and user typology. These have
ensured that the collection has acquired an extremely diverse
and unique character down through the years. This means that
it is not only oriented toward the major names from design
history, but it also devotes attention to unique items and user
objects that have also become popular among the general
public in the course of time, such as a simple knob chair from
Brabant, a folding fishing stool, or a plastic bucket seat.
7
Various periods and styles are represented in the collection.
Two focal points can be discerned. The first consists of the 18th
and 19th-century seats, such as, for example, an ensemble of
Russian folklore furniture that can be regarded as being among
the most splendid examples of their kind. The chairs from the
Modernist period – particularly the tubular steel chairs and
aluminium chairs – form the second focal point.
Besides these areas of focus, other subcategories can also be
distinguished. On the basis of the above-mentioned collection
criteria, the viewer can admire a large number of synthetic
chairs, such as the two garden chairs created by Frog Design,
the children’s chair designed by Marco Zanuso and Richard
Sapper in 1964, and the Plona Chair designed by Giancarlo
Piretti in 1969. It will be self-evident that the Knotted Chair by
Marcel Wanders, which was produced after a workshop at Delft
University of Technology, is also included in the collection.
In addition, there are various baby chairs, African milking
stools, simple farmer’s chairs, and other extraordinary sitting
elements to be admired. In short, the assortment is rich
enough to fascinate the design buff or creative designer who
wishes to know more about the chairs one does not encounter
in everyday life but which have certainly influenced our living
environment. This variety of chairs is presented to the reader in
line with the type of material that has been used: wood, metal,
natural material (including wickerwork), and synthetic
material. The same classification was applied to the previous
Delft publications. This choice was occasionally rather
arbitrary, because a chair might contain two types of material.
In such cases, the material that largely determined the
character of the chair was taken as the basis. Within each
category, the chairs have been arranged according to their
construction or method of production and, in specific cases,
according to their use. The authors of the book have attempted
to gather as much information as possible on the objects and
to place them in the context of local, personal and historical
developments. This quest has occasionally led to unexpected
destinations, such as the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the Paulus en
Petrus Kerk (church) in Middelburg, or the convent archives in
Sint Agatha. This often generated a feeling of ‘upgrading’ when
another piece of the puzzle fell into place and a year, designer
or excerpt from the creative history could be added to the
database. The authors hope that the improved documentation
of the chairs and the accompanying texts will stimulate the
pleasure of reading as well as a better understanding of the
composition of the collection.
8
In the description of the chairs, the designer’s name is the first
piece of information given. Subsequently the type of chair is
listed, with its given name if possible, and then its date. This
dating process distinguishes between the date of design, the date
of manufacture, and the ‘age’ of the object in the collection.
In this way, any difference between the initial design and a later
implementation or reissue can be made clear. The next item is
the inventory number.
The dimensions of the chair are presented in centimetres –
a smaller unit is useless because the chairs can never be
identical down to the last millimetre. Nevertheless, the tube
diameters of the metal chairs are given in millimetres. The
order of sequence of the figures presented is: the height of the
seat, the absolute height, the width, and the depth. The data on
the manufacturer usually contain the location of the company
or maker and the model designation. If no literature is known,
any further designation is omitted. The information concludes
with further remarks on the object.
9
Metal
Some wooden chairs in the collection are significantly older
than the oldest metal chair. However, this does not mean that
there were no metal chairs prior to 1925. Examples of wrought-
iron or bronze chairs are known from Antiquity. These were
usually in the shape of folding chairs – although they might not
always actually be foldable – and were generally used for
ceremonial purposes. In Ancient Rome, this type of chair, based
on the hinge principle, was called sella curulis – a seat for a
1 G. Himmelheber, Möbel aus higher function.1 This tradition continued throughout the
Eisen. Geschichte Formen
Techniken, Munich 1996, p. 11.
Middle Ages and this type was favoured by ecclesiastical
dignitaries of the time. From the 16th century onward, metal
chairs were often equipped with back and armrests, and more
attention was devoted to their decoration. Real progress in the
domain of metal seats came with the advent of improved cast-
iron technology at the end of the 18th century. The 19th century
was a period of expansion, especially for cast-iron, wrought-
iron, and round-bar chairs and benches, for both interior and
exterior use. This development was enabled by the Industrial
Revolution, of which iron and steam were the characteristic
features, and the technologies applied to produce and process
iron underwent enormous improvement in this period.
Nevertheless, when the young Marcel Breuer attempted to
assemble his first modern tubular steel chair, the situation in
furniture usage had changed. By 1925, metal furniture had long
been exiled to the garden, the hospital, the barracks, or an
open-air café; at least that was the case in Europe. A normal
home contained only an iron or brass bed at the most. The step
that Breuer took in Dessau was a revolutionary reintroduction
of metal into the living room. His armchair was made of eleven
pieces of cold-drawn steel tube, curved into the required shape
on the bending bench. The tubes were nickel-plated so that they
shone. A fabric known as ‘two-cord yarn’, which was actually
Inv. no. 20032025 canvas treated with wax, was used for the seat and the backrest.
p. 37 The result was a stripped skeleton of a club chair. Instead of a
single volume, it was a composition of lines and surfaces.*
Two features of the new era in metal living-room furniture
were of importance: the link of the new design to avant-garde
architecture, and the use of tubular steel. Although Breuer’s
idea to design a ‘stripped’ transparent armchair had been
inspired by Rietveld, transparency was also one of the general
characteristics of the modern interior. An abundance of light,
clarity, and frugal furnishings were typical features of the
austere functionalist interiors of the late 1920s. Only chairs
that did not form spatial obstacles harmonized with this kind
of interior. In 1928, in his text entitled Metalmöbel und die
15
METAL
20
Anonymous, chair, 1930s
Inv. no. 20032147, 20032063
Chrome-plated tubular steel; black-lacquered
plywood
44.5 × 84.5 × 38.5 × 49 cm ø 22 mm
Unknown, copy of Thonet B43
21
METAL
22
METAL
24
25