Jonathan Olivares    Author profile provided by WorldCat
Phaidon Press, London, New York, 2011, English    List of all editions provided by WorldCat
Nonfiction, Product/Industrial Design
9.1 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches, hardcover, 240 pages, 1,000 color illustrations
ISBN: 9780714861036
Suggested Retail Price: $39.95

From the Publisher. Details over 180 of the most innovative office chairs designed and built from the 1840s to the present, with a color photograph, details of the designer and manufacturer, and a short text accompanying each chair. Features designs from numerous well-known designers, including Marcel Breuer, Charles and Ray Eames, Gio Ponti, Richard Sapper, Jasper Morrison and Konstantin Grcic. Gives a visual overview of the entire evolution of the modern office chair. Includes ten chapters of technical drawings, comprising over 400 drawings, underlining the exhaustive research and technical prowess behind the book. The fruition of an authoritative four-year research project which will appeal to product designers, furniture manufacturers, design enthusiasts and students, furniture collectors, and anyone needing to buy an office chair.

On 2 book lists
Paul Makovsky

Olivares took a boring topic—office chairs—and after four years of research produced a monograph that will have you wanting to redesign the chair you’re sitting in. With an almost scientific rigor, he includes over 400 illustrations of details of chairs, some by famous designers like Marcel Breuer and the Eameses, to one-hit wonders like Fred Scott’s Supporto chair for Hille, and a short but insightful essay on the evolution of the chair. A model for anyone looking for an approach to the history and taxonomy of a product.

Library Availability provided by WorldCat

Comments about A Taxonomy of Office Chairs

1 comment
1. chris jackson 11/30/11 at 9:42 pm Flag

It's a shame the Fred Scott is referred to here as a "one-hit-wonder". It show's that Paul doesn't know this area of design so well. Fred Scott, although troubled by illness, designed many successful objects, including the HM26 for Hitch Mylius, and was hugely respected by the many people he worked with and taught. At the time of his death he was also working on a series of new, innovative projects exploring progressive workplace ergonomics, that will probably never see the light of day. Supporto was also a "system" as opposed to a chair.

Add your comment

k
C
Q
T
Enter the code without spaces and pay attention to upper/lower case.