A Taxonomy of Office Chairs

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Phaidon Press, London, New York, 2011, English

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

On Paul Makovsky’s Notable Books of 2011 list

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.

Jonathan Olivares

On list of Books by Jonathan Olivares

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