Contract - September 2011 - (Page 72)

chair histo (continued from page 70) Describe the role Knoll had in this book’s development. Benjamin Pardo, Knoll’s design director, took an interest in the project at its onset and decided to fund it. When I ﬁrst started the book, I knew ve little about oﬃce chairs, so in addition to giving me an orientation, Benjamin introduced me to designers and engineers at several companies, who would then go on to introduce me to others. Knoll provided the ﬁnancial and moral support necessa to take on this enormous research project. Aside from that, I would meet with Benjamin eve couple months and show him how the book was progressing, and he would suggest possible areas missed. Do you have any interesting anecdotes or new perspectives a er interviewing indust veterans for this book? The older designers I interviewed―Richard Sapper, Don Chadwick, and Niels Diﬀrient―collectively changed the way I looked at design. I feel a deep aﬃnity with their generation and their views. They see design diﬀerently than most designers do today. They practice a hands-on approach that’s lost on 99 percent of the computer-aided designers of my generation. They also have strong moral ideals, and view design as a true social agent that can address some of the needs of the largest populations. What were some of the key, unique ﬁnds from the Die Neue Sammlung, Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Vitra Design Museum visits? I went to these museums with ve speciﬁc agendas. The ﬁrst visit was o en to understand what chairs they had in their collections (this is not always listed online), and then a second visit gave me the chance to study more closely the models I was interested in. Finding a physical example of an oﬃce chair from the 1970s or earlier can be diﬃcult. There is one somewhat obscure oﬃce chair, the System 25 by Richard Sapper (designed for Comforto in 1984), which might have slipped past our radar had I not found it at Die Neue Sammlung. Not all readers will know about Google Patents. Describe how you referenced Google Patents to “understand the complex functions of movement mechanisms.” Google Patents oﬀer the general public an archive of searchable U.S. Patent applications. Since manufacturers’ catalogues and Web sites don’t oﬀer any real technical understanding of how oﬃce chairs work, we found that patent applications were o en the best explanation outside of interviewing an actual engineer or designer. Did you gain any new insight into chair design through the process of making this book? It became apparent that the movement mechanism is the heart of the oﬃce chair. It’s not a coincidence that the most successful chairs from 1849 to now have all introduced a mechanism designed around someone’s new idea about how to sit. The oﬃce chair is largely an inventor’s work. What was the biggest challenge in writing this book? Maintaining a daily interest in oﬃce chairs for four years was a feat! CET Designer – powerful software for creative people. Call us at 877-238-0808 to learn more and download CET Designer at www.configura.com/cet Select No. 12 at ContractDesign.com/readerservice http://www.configura.com/cet http://www.configura.com/cet http://www.ContractDesign.com/readerservice

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Contract - September 2011

Contract - September 2011
Contents
Editorial
Industry News
Product Briefs: Sustainable
Product Focus: Here Comes the Sun
Product Focus: Cream of the Crop
Memory Museum
Triple Threat
Mission Sustainable
Model of Sustainability
Desert Oasis
LEED by Example
Cooking Light
Trends: The Resilient Workplace
Ideas: Chair History
Designers Select: Boardroom Furnishings
Sources
Ad Index
Perspectives: Steven M. Davis, Faia, Aedas

Contract - September 2011