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99% Invisible

139- Edge of Your Seat

99% Invisible

SiriusXM Podcasts and Roman Mars

Design, Arts

4.8 β€’ 27.5K Ratings

πŸ—“οΈ 4 November 2014

⏱️ 15 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

β€œA Chair is a difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier.” β€” Mies van der Rohe. The chair presents an interesting design challenge, because it is an object that disappears when in use. The person replaces the chair.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is 99% invisible. I'm Roman Mars. A chair is a difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier.

0:08.7

Those are the words of Mee's Van der Raan, one of many architects who have also designed chairs.

0:14.0

Eams, Geary, Adeed, Leviscind, Kubusier, Breuer. If they've designed a big building,

0:22.2

chances are they've designed a thing on which to sit. And this makes sense that chairs would be

0:27.4

signature design pieces for architects. Because chairs are almost like teeny tiny buildings for one

0:33.5

person. Producer, Avery, Truffleman. And of course it's not just architects. Designers of all stripes

0:39.2

have this love affair with chairs. Well I think every designer really would love to design a chair.

0:45.3

I mean there's so many interesting things about chairs. This is designer Bruce Hanna. I'm a teacher

0:50.6

at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York and designed things for all for years. Including plenty

0:57.6

of chairs for the office for the home everything. Chairs exist. They kind of are like placeholders

1:04.2

for human beings. You know you go into a restaurant that's empty and there's all these little placeholders.

1:09.5

Yet when the people sit in the chair it disappears. The person replaces the chair.

1:15.2

And so there's this distinct challenge for chair designers. To make this thing look fantastic when

1:21.8

empty and remain comfortably invisible when in use. And Hanna's pursuit of seating innovation actually

1:28.1

led to something else. When he was experimenting with foam cushioning, Hanna accidentally invented

1:34.0

the Nerf ball. Well actually it's called the foam football. Still really cool. It did come out of

1:39.1

designing the chair. I mean we're much more interested in the chair. Yes those designers sure do

1:43.9

love chairs. Love them. They keep turning out new ones all the time. Which brings me to one of my

1:49.2

favorite headlines from the onion. Quote. Report confirms no need to make new chairs for the time being.

1:56.3

Because yeah there are already a lot. I think you could say that about anything. Well we have enough

2:00.4

cars. Let's stop making cars. Personally I wouldn't be against that but new chairs are always coming out.

2:06.4

Hanna says to fit our ever changing needs because chairs determine how we use a space. Hanna brought

...

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