Your Guide to Great Chair Design

History of Chair Design

The Campaign for Better Seating
A short history of chair design

Wikipedia: Chair - Design and Ergonomics
Online encyclopedia entry for chair that includes history, design, plus other information and resources

The Modern Chair - A Design History
History of the Modern Chair by Andries Van Onck cover Bertoia's Wire Chair, Eames' Lounge Chair and others.

A Century of Chairs - Design Museum Exhibition London
Explore the history of chair design broken down by decade.

eHow: The History of Chair Design
Article by Susan Elliot covering origins to modern chair design.

Chair History - Chair Blog
Blog posts about chairs and their history

Ball Chair, Bubble Chair & Egg Chair
Interesting history of these three chairs

Google Chair Design Timeline
Chair design timeline compiled by Google by referencing several websites

History of the Chair - Random History
A history of chairs, from Neolithic benches and common domestic stools to the modern ergonomic aesthetic.

Museums

Vitra Design Museum
Maintains one of the largest collections of modern furniture design in the world

Design Museum London
London's museum of international contemporary design featuring periodic exhibits on chairs

Bauhaus Museum of Design
A museum in Germany featuring the works of Bauhaus artists many of which were the chair designers and architects in the early to mid 1900s.

Guggenheim Museum
Art museum in New York City designed by chair designer and architect Frank Lloyd Wright. They feature chairs by Frank Gehry and Frank Lloyd Wright

Museum of Modern Art
Great museum in New York City to see modern chair design. Also has an online store!

Metropolitan Museum of Art
Large New York City art museum with several chairs on display. This site includes an art history timeline and educational resources.

Exhibitions

A Century of Chairs - Design Museum Exhibition London
Explore the history of chair design in this selection of chairs from the Design Museum Collection

More than 4 Legs - A Closer Look at Chairs - Indianapolis Museum of Art
Chairs: We all sit in them, but how often do we really look at them? ... design as an art form by drawing attention to overlooked features of the chairs in which we sit.

Where Have I Seen That Chair Before?

Jetset-Designs for Modern Living-Sightings
Your source for tracking down popular chairs in movies, tv, commercials, advertisements, etc.

Chair Designers

Bertoia Studio
Site ran by the son of Harry Bertoia, includes a bio, gallery and store

Eames Office
Learn everything you ever wanted to know about Ray and Charles Eames.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Website
This website has been designed to celebrate the work of Glasgow Art Nouveau artist and architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife Margaret MacDonald

Vernor Panton Design
Website of Vernor Panton Design including bio, gallery and contact information

Eero Saarinen - Shaping the Future
Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future is a comprehensive project exploring the work of one of the most prolific, unorthodox, and controversial masters of 20th-century architecture.

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to conserving the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and advancing the principles of organic architecture

George Nelson-Modern Design Archive
Biography and related links

Gerrit Rietveld's Red and Blue Chair
An interesting article regarding the design of the Red and Blue Chair by Rietveld

Pierre Paulin at Design Addict
Online exhibition of Paulin's works

Modern Chair Manufacturers

Vitra
Manufacturer of chairs designed by Eames, Gehry, Nelson, Starcke, and Panton among others

Artifort
Manufacturer of chairs designed by Pierre Paulin among others

Knoll
Manufacturer of chairs designed by Saarinen among others with a focus on modern office furniture

Herman Miller
Manufacturer of chairs designed by Eames among others with a focus on modern office furniture, includes a special section for designers/architects

What should you look for in a seat?

Campaign for better Seating
Provides guidelines for proper seating position

Books

1000 Chairs
This book has pictures of 1000 different kinds of chairs and is a great resource. It has adequate information about Eames chairs which have become known worldwide. It has many other kinds of chairs including some very exotic chairs.

The Modern Chair
Includes detailed explanations of designers and chairs with many photos

500 Chairs: Celebrating Traditional & Innovative Designs (500 Series)
A beautifully made photographic account of sterling furniture design by leading makers as well as brilliant newcomers.

Landmarks of Chair Design
This all-new survey of innovative seating designs, compiled by Charlotte and Peter Fiell, renowned authorities on the subject, showcases over 1,000 chairs by some of the world's greatest designers, from Alvar Aalto to Marco Zanuso.

Fifty Chairs That Changed the World
Up-close look at the chair designs-from Thonet's elegantly workaday bistro chair no. 14, of 1870, to the more outrageous creations of present-day designers

New Chairs: Innovations in Design, Technology, and Materials
New Chairs offers more than 70 examples of contemporary chair design worldwide, perfect for the postmodern, high-tech, high-concept age.

Rethinking Sitting
A Scandinavian furniture designer offers insight into his thinking about sitting and explains the philosophy that informs his pioneering chairs.

Chairs A-Z (TASCHEN Icons Series)
Best examples from 1000 Chairs and packed them into a slimmer (but no less desirable) volume

Just Chairs: Over 600 Designs from Around the World
Organized by period, designer and materials, respectively, this smartly laid-out, flexibound book delivers what it promises: over 600 chairs in hundreds of color illustrations.

The Eames Lounge Chair: An Icon of Modern Design
This major publication, celebrating the Lounge Chair's fiftieth anniversary, explores the design in detail and places it in its cultural, historical and social contexts, offering fresh insights into this revered icon and its equally revered creators

Blogs

Chair Blog - Chairs, Chair Designers and Chair Manufacturers
Mainly a Photo blog - very nice

Best Chairs - Modern Chairs - Unique Chairs
The collection of chairs design from many designer with plenty of models, material application and various style of chairs design.

Contemporist
Contemporist is a daily source for architects and interior designers to discover new products and projects in the world of contemporary design.

2Modern Blog | Modern Furniture and Design Blog
They curate all things that are modern, hip, trendy, innovative and cool and bring them to you each week.

Chair Whore
A blog about chairs and nothing else

Chair Blog - Tumblr
Chairs, Chair Design, Chair Designers and Chair Manufacturers

Online Chair Galleries and Shops

Bauhaus and Modern Classics furniture
Bauhaus style furniture: chair, table, lamp, bed, screen, desk, bench, sideboard.

hive
Modern design for the home

GOMOD :: modern furniture classics
Modern furniture and retro collectibles marketplace. Buy and sell vintage designs from the art deco, mid-century, pop and post-modern eras

White on white
Excellent photo gallery and store directory option

Boomerang for Mid-Century Modern Furniture
San Diego vintage modern furniture, lighting and accessories by leading designers

FIFTIE-FIFTIE
20th century Modern Design, Furniture and Decorative Arts

Modern furniture online
Offering collections of modern European furniture and lighting.

Design Within Reach: The Best in Modern Design
Discover the source for enduring, purposeful and innovative furniture and accessories. Design Within Reach also publishes a catalog that you can subscribe to.

Modern Classics Furniture
Specializing in modern Italian and Scandinavian Furniture and accessories. These include modern kitchen and dining room furniture, bedroom and living room furniture, entertainment centers, wardrobes, contemporary rugs, lighting, bar tables and stools, contemporary office furniture and much more.

highbrowfurniture.com: Modern furniture
Classic mid-century modern furniture designs. Authorized retailer for Architectural Pottery, Cherner Chair Co., Emeco, Herman Miller for the Home, Knoll, and many more.

R 20th Century Design
Features a collection of vintage pieces from designers of the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s. Also biographies and a bookstore.