I remember being hit by a wave of something indefinable as I set eyes on one of the oldest chairs in the world at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. An awe-inspiring piece of history with gold leaf work, precious stones and glass, it had legs ending in paws. Lion heads below the armrests stared straight ahead, as if proud to be of service to a pharaoh, that too King Tutankhamen (1341 to 1323 BC) of all people.
Tutankhamen’s golden throne, discovered in his largely intact tomb in 1922 by British archaeologist Howard Carter, is evidence of the skills of master craftsmen whose works have survived for over 3,000 years, the shine undimmed and the colours bold and bright. The artwork on the backrest of the chair sets some ideal couple goals: Tutankhamun looking on blissfully at his wife Ankhesenamun massaging oil on his shoulder. The seat is lined with quartz and the armrests have winged serpents made of turquoise enamel with crowns on their heads… symbolising, according to historians, the unification of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, powerful images for a piece of furniture fit for a pharaoh.
From Egyptians to the Greek and Romans, chairs were invented thousands of years ago and tweaked and modified over the centuries. There were wingbacks designed for the first time in the 1600s in Britain supposedly to help people protect their faces and ears from the cold breeze in homes that were mostly drafty. Then there was Charles Darwin adding wheels to his chair to move around easily at work as he checked his samples, creating, as many believe, the ancestor of today’s office chair.
The Lincoln connect
A red silk upholstered rocking chair now at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, United States, has a tragic connection. The sixteenth US president, Abraham Lincoln, was assassinated while sitting in it and watching a performance of English dramatist Tom Taylor’s Our American Cousin at the Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC. Lincoln is also believed to have been presented with a somewhat unusual chair made of elk horns by a hunter named Seth Kinman. It’s said that when Kinman went to the White House to meet the president he also played a fiddle for him made from the skull of his favourite mule.
Sofas and chairs in modern homes today all owe their origin to designs of the past - from the ornamental Rococo style, which famous cabinet-maker Thomas Chippendale later modified and made famous along with his mid-Georgian and Neoclassical styles – to the comfy, upholstered 18th century Bergère armchair.
Devika Khosla, creative director, The Works Interiors, says chairs have played key roles in the history of design, evolving over time with innovations and application of materials. “As a result, versatile design is evergreen and comes back into the design arena and steals the limelight, much like the Chandigarh chairs,” she says.
The unfortunate part of it
As every local resident proud of Chandigarh’s architectural legacy knows, the wood and cane pieces were designed by Swiss architect Pierre Jeanneret in the 1950s and named after the city designed by his cousin, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret or Le Corbusier (1887-1965).
Corbusier himself dabbled in furniture design with Jeanneret and a friend, which resulted in the LC Series and its characteristic chrome-plated tubular steel frames. The LC4 chaise lounge was a snazzy piece that can still rock any high-end living room today, while the LC3 was a wonderfully cushiony sofa.
Unfortunately, the creative pieces of the Jeanneret cousins today make news not because of the design factor, but because of the interest they generate among crooks.
Heritage furniture pieces from Chandigarh’s government offices and educational institutions have been disappearing over the years and surfacing abroad. Eight chairs and two tables went missing from the Le Corbusier Centre in September 2015; 15 heritage chairs and a table were stolen from a store room at the Government College of Arts in January 2016; months later, in the same year, four chairs went missing from a boys’ hostel in Sector 15. Years later, 10 heritage items from Panjab University, including armchairs from Chandigarh’s administrative building as well as office armchairs, all Le Corbusier-Pierre Jeanneret design, were auctioned for around Rs 2.74 crore at Paris in France, according to the newspapers. Though various petty criminals were arrested over the years, most of them were let off for lack of evidence.
Keeping aside drama and intrigue, however, when we look at a simple question as to what a perfect chair is, the answer is: “A mash-up of creativity, form and utility,” says Pritika Singh, founder of furniture design brand Mohh.
Her own preferred styles are contemporary, modern minimalist, transitional with a healthy dose of art deco elements.
Since an entire room can be completed or dressed up with this one article, statement or accent chairs are Singh’s absolute go to. “A contemporary design with art deco or metallic details and a play on fabrics makes the piece perfect for her.
When all is said and done, however, what chair buyers finally consider is ergonomics, insists Singh. “Most of us end up spending an extraordinary amount of time sitting across chairs so the seating height, back angle, seating depth and width all play a crucial role while manufacturing and designing a chair. The materials being used come next: Will it survive the years of use, will it be comfortable to sit on for hours on end. And it all ties together with the final design that one falls in love with,” she says.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
