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40/4 Chair

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Kvng (talk | contribs) at 16:30, 5 April 2018 (bold and link). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

  • Comment: A good start would be to address the concerns in the article that Gryllida has kindly taken time to point out. Chenzw  Talk  02:35, 11 March 2018 (UTC)
  • Comment: The chair may have Notability, but the overly promotional tone renders this draft an advertisement. KJP1 (talk) 07:31, 25 February 2018 (UTC)


40/4 chair
DesignerDavid Rowland
Date1964
MaterialsSteel wire frame with a variety of materials used for the seat and back rest including laminated wood and plastic.
Style / traditionModern
Sold byHowe a/s

The 40/4 chair designed by David Rowland was the first compactly stackable chair invented. Forty chairs can be stacked within a height of 4 feet (120 cm) – thus the name “40/4”, a feat unheard of in 1964, when the chair was first introduced.[1] It is a flexible all-purpose chair providing large-capacity movable seating, compact economical storage and comfort in sitting for long periods.[2][3] It’s been called “the most universally useful chair ever made and accomplished with the least expenditure of material and labor” by Sherman Emery, Editor in Chief of Interior Design magazine.[2] It was named #1 of The Top 10 Commercial Interiors Products of the Past 50 Years by Contract Design Magazine in 2010, stating “It is unsurpassed to this day, in engineering, sophistication and production.”[4]

Description

The frame of the 40/4 chair is made of 7/16” steel rod and consists of 4 members – two side members and two stretchers: one at the front base and one at the rear of the seat. The seat and back are formed sheet metal with 3/16” rolled edges and coated in vinyl.[5] Over the years new models of the chair have been added with seats and backs of finely-crafted wood veneers, plastic resin and upholstery over wood.[6]

160 chairs on a single dolly

The chairs can be stacked on specially designed dollys for easy moving and storage.[5][7] Forty chairs on a single dolly take up 0.47 m2 / 5.1 ft 2 of floor space. One hundred sixty chairs on a quadruple dolly take up less than 2 m2 / 21.5 ft 2 of floor space. The chairs can also be ganged together horizontally to form rows, and the rows of chairs can be moved, lifted and stacked.[5][8] 21 Four men can stack and remove 400 chairs from a room in forty minutes.[6]

The ergonomics of the chair, arrived at by Rowland through arduous experimentation to accommodate the widest range of human shapes and sizes[1] give the chair an unusually high standard of comfort for long periods of sitting.[7]

In 2002 David Rowland in conjunction with Howe a/s introduced an expanded family of the 40/4 chair to include the side chair, armchair, chair with tablet arm, ganging chair, bar stool, lounge chair, swivel base chair and all wood chair. Now an entire venue can be designed with the same theme of chair.[8]

Authenticity

Every authentic 40/4 chair has the David Rowland trademarked signature underneath the seat.[9]

History

David Rowland developed the 40/4 chair over a period of 8 years, working off and on in his spare time, making 20 hand-made models in the process of refining and perfecting his design.[1] In 1963 he was awarded a United States patent, #3080194[10], on the chair with additional patents to follow.[11][12][13][14][15]

In an effort to license the chair Rowland showed it to many companies without results. Finally, Florence Knoll took a licensee for Knoll Inc., but canceled it after six months. At the suggestion of a friend, Rowland showed the chair to Davis Allen, head of interior design at the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). Allen loved it and wanted 17,000 for the new campus they were designing for the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). At Allen’s suggestion Rowland showed the chair to the General Fireproofing Co. (GF) of Youngstown, Ohio. With a ready order for 17,000 chairs, enough to pay for the tooling, GF took a license.[16][9] While that first order for UIC was still being produced, 250 chairs, specified by architect Philip Johnson, were installed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York for the opening of its new wing, in May 1965.[5][17] The chair was an immediate success.[9] and has been in continuous production ever since, having sold over eight million chairs.[9][18][9]

Awards and Recognition

  • Grand Prize at the 13th Triennale in Milan, Italy, 1964[19]
  • International Design Award, American Institute of Interior Designers (A.I.D.), 1965[20]
  • Master Design Award from Product Engineering Magazine, 1965[21]
  • Gold Medal Award for Furniture from the Austrian Government, 1968[22]
  • Industrial Design Award, International Biennial Exhibition, Rio de Janeiro, 1968
  • Design in America: The Cranbrook Vision 1925-1950[23]

Curated examples

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Rowland, David (October 6, 1988). "Stackable Chair". The Christian Science Monitor: 25-26.
  2. ^ a b Emery, Sherman (June 1964). "The Story of a Chair". Interior Design Magazine: 122.
  3. ^ Hiesinger, Kathryn B.; Marcus, George H. (1993). Landmarks of the Twentieth-Century Design, An Illustrated Handbook. New York: Abbeville Press. p. 223. ISBN 1-558590279-2. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help)
  4. ^ "The Top 10 Commercial Interiors Products of the Past 50 Years". Contract Design Magazine: 22. March 2010.
  5. ^ a b c d J., W. (June 1964). "David Rowland's 40/4 Chair". Interiors Magazine: 102.
  6. ^ a b "40/4: The Family". Howe. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  7. ^ a b Meadmore, Clement (1975). The Modern Chair: Classics in Production. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. pp. 136–138. ISBN 0442253052.
  8. ^ a b Howe a/s (2015). Howe Collection. Denmark: Howe a/s. pp. 11, 14–31.
  9. ^ a b c d e "40/4 Chair". University Library, University of Illinois at Chicago. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  10. ^ Compactly Stackable Chair {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |country-code= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |inventor1-first= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |inventor1-last= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |issue-date= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |patent-number= ignored (help)
  11. ^ Compactly Stackable Chair {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |country-code= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |inventor1-first= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |inventor1-last= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |issue-date= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |patent-number= ignored (help)
  12. ^ Compactly Stackable Chairs and Chair-Rows {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |country-code= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |inventor1-first= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |inventor1-last= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |issue-date= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |patent-number= ignored (help)
  13. ^ Dolly for Stacking Chairs {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |country-code= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |inventor1-first= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |inventor1-last= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |issue-date= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |patent-number= ignored (help)
  14. ^ Compactly Stackable Chair {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |country-code= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |inventor1-first= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |inventor1-last= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |issue-date= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |patent-number= ignored (help)
  15. ^ Nested Armchair {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |country-code= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |inventor1-first= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |inventor1-last= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |issue-date= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |patent-number= ignored (help)
  16. ^ Von, Robinson (December 2004). "99% Perspiration". Metropolis: 149.
  17. ^ "David Rowland. 40/4 Stacking Chair. 1964". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  18. ^ Hevesi, Dennis (August 25, 2010). "David Rowland, Maker of a Tidily Stacked Chair, Dies at 86". The New York Times: B12.
  19. ^ Staff. "U.S. Exhibit Takes Top Prize in Milan", The New York Times, September 26, 1964. Accessed August 26, 2010.
  20. ^ "A.I.D. Gives Awards to 14 Designs". New York Times. Jan 4, 1965.
  21. ^ "New Fashions That Sit Well". Houston Chronicle. May 27, 1965.
  22. ^ "STACKABLE CHAIR. Designer David Rowland tells how at first, everyone turned it down ..." Christian Science Monitor. October 6, 1988.
  23. ^ Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. New York: Harry N. Abrams Publishers. 1983. p. 129. ISBN 0810908018.
  24. ^ Les Assises Du Siege Contemporain. Musee des Arts Decoratifs. 1968. p. 106.
  25. ^ a b c d David Rowland 40/4. Howe a/s. 2011. p. 36.

Category:Chairs Category:History of furniture Category:Modernism

40/4 Chair

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