American Wooden Chairs, 1895-1908 Book

This is a fairly short book on the history of chairs. It starts out by explaining the two main principles of chair design: function and presence. It then relates the history of chair design to changes in technology, materials, style, culture and society. A number of iconic chairs such as the Thonet chair (Bistro chair), Mies van der Rohe's Brno chair, Le Corbusier's chaise longue, Eileen Gray's Bibendum chair, Arne Jacobson's Egg Chair or Charles Eames lounge chair receive special mention and their respective roles in the overall history of chair design are explained. Finally, and that's by far the most interesting part of the book, follows an interview with Konstantin Grcic (the Munich-based designer of Chair One). Here the designer shares the multiple challenges involved in designing a particular chair: the Myto (the world's first genuine plastic cantilevered chair). This part is very interesting to read and well illustrated with pictures. Overall, this is a nice little book. Unfortunately, it does not (apart from the interview with Grcic) really tell you anything about "how to design a chair". Thus, if you are looking for a guide on chair design, you better look elsewhere.