40/4 Chair Explained

40/4 chair
Designer:David Rowland
Date:1964
Materials:Frame: steel rod; Seat and back: coated steel, wood veneers, plastic resin, or upholstery (depending on model)
Style:Modern
Sold By:Howe a/s

The 40/4 chair is the compactly stackable chair designed by David Rowland in 1964. Forty chairs can be stacked within a height of 4 feet (120 cm), giving the chair its name. Over time it has received a number of design awards and is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, as well as other museums internationally.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Description

The frame of the chair is made of 7/16" solid steel rod. The seat and back are formed sheet metal with 3/16" rolled edges and coated in vinyl.[7] Some models substitute wood veneers, plastic resin and upholstery over wood as components.[8]

Chairs can be stacked on specially designed dollies for storage and movement.[7] [9] Various configurations allow the chairs to be stacked in a number of ways while striving to minimize the floor space utilized.[10]

In 2004 Rowland worked with Howe a/s to introduce an expanded family of the 40/4 chair.

History

Rowland developed the 40/4 chair over a period of 8 years. In 1963 he was awarded a patent for the chair's design.[11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]

Initially, Rowland showed the chair to many companies in an effort to license the design. In 1961, Florence Knoll licensed the chair for her company, Knoll Associates, however canceled a license after six months. Rowland later showed the chair to Davis Allen, head of interior design at the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). Allen requested 17,000 chairs for the a campus SOM was designing for the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). To fulfill the request, Rowland licensed the design to General Fireproofing Co. (GF) in Youngstown, Ohio.[17] [18] In May 1965, while the first order for was still being produced, 250 chairs were hand assembled and installed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City for the opening of its new wing.[7]

The 40/4 was an immediate success. It won the grand prize at the prestigious 13th Milan Triennale,[19] and has been included in museum collections and exhibitions internationally.

In the book the Modern Chair, Clement Meadmore described the chair as having "beautiful simplicity and total appropriateness." 2500 of the chairs were installed in St. Paul's Cathedral in London in 1973, site of Prince Charles and Princess Diana's wedding, and remain in use. In 2001, it was named #1 of "The Top 10 Commercial Interiors products of the Past 50 Years" by Contract Design Magazine.[20]

The chair has been in continuous production since its introduction and has sold over 8 million units.[21]

General Fireproofing held the license for the chair from 1963 until 2002 when the company was taken over by OSI Furniture LLC. In 2013, Howe Europe, (now Howe a/s), of Denmark, which had had a sublicense to the chair in Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Asia (except for Indonesia) acquired the license for the 40/4 in the United States and Canada.[22] [23] In Indonesia, PT. Indovickers Furnitama holds the license, and also produces the 40/4 in a rattan version.

Awards and recognition

Curated examples

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Emery. Sherman. The Story of a Chair. Interior Design Magazine. June 1964. 122.
  2. Book: Hiesinger. Kathryn B.. Marcus. George H.. Landmarks of the Twentieth-Century Design, An Illustrated Handbook. 1993. Abbeville Press. New York. 1-55859279-2. 223. registration.
  3. You Tube video: min.1:22 “40/4 chair liberates living architecture in St. Barnabas Church”. (accessed April 3, 2018)
  4. You Tube video: minute: 1:09, “The 40/4 chair creating value in Canterbury Cathedral” (accessed April 3, 2018)
  5. You Tube video: 40/4 enhances architecture at Suffolk One. (accessed April 3, 2018)
  6. Web site: David Rowland. 40/4 Stacking Chair. 1964.. The Museum of Modern Art . March 23, 2018.
  7. J.. W.. David Rowland's 40/4 Chair. Interiors Magazine. June 1964. 102.
  8. Web site: 40/4: The Family . 23 September 2015 . Howe . March 19, 2018.
  9. Book: Meadmore. Clement. The Modern Chair: Classics in Production. 1975. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co.. New York. 0442253052. 136–138.
  10. Book: Howe Collection. Howe a/s. 2015. Howe a/s. Denmark. 11, 14–31.
  11. Rowland . David . Compactly Stackable Chair . March 5, 1963 . 3080194 . US .
  12. Rowland . David . Compactly Stackable Chair . September 27, 1966 . 3275371 . US .
  13. Rowland . David . Compactly Stackable Chairs and Chair-Rows . October 11, 1966 . 3278227 . US .
  14. Rowland . David . Dolly for Stacking Chairs . April 29, 1967 . 3338591 . US .
  15. Rowland . David . Compactly Stackable Chair . October 8, 1968 . 3404916 . US .
  16. Rowland . David . Nested Armchair . May 27, 1969 . 3446530 . US .
  17. Von. Robinson. 99% Perspiration. Metropolis. December 2004. 149.
  18. Web site: 40/4 Chair. University Library, University of Illinois at Chicago. March 19, 2018. December 9, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171209185731/http://uicarchives.library.uic.edu/40-4Chair. dead.
  19. Hevesi. Dennis. August 25, 2010. David Rowland, Maker of a Tidily Stacked Chair, Dies at 86. The New York Times. B12.
  20. Contract Design Magazine. March 2010. 22. The Top 10 Commercial Interiors Products of the Past 50 Years.
  21. Book: Design in America : the Cranbrook vision, 1925-1950. 1983. Abrams, in association with the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Metropolitan Museum of Art . Interior Design and Furniture . R. Craig Miller . 0810908018. New York. 129. 9393845.
  22. News: Danish Brand Howe Relaunches in the U.S. Market. 2014-01-28. Interior Design. 2018-04-10. en-US.
  23. Web site: David Rowland - introduction. April 20, 2018. Howe a/s. April 10, 2018. July 6, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160706155154/http://www.howe.com/us/file/728/download?token=-eBm9qcm. dead.
  24. Staff. "U.S. Exhibit Takes Top Prize in Milan", The New York Times, September 26, 1964. Accessed August 26, 2010.
  25. News: A.I.D. Gives Awards to 14 Designs. New York Times. Jan 4, 1965.
  26. News: New Fashions That Sit Well. Houston Chronicle. May 27, 1965.
  27. News: Stackable Chair. Rowland. David. October 6, 1988. Christian Science Monitor. April 11, 2018.
  28. Book: Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. 1983. Harry N. Abrams Publishers. New York. 0810908018. 129.
  29. News: A small show about chairs hints at larger design ambitions at the Art Institute. Kamin. Blair. chicagotribune.com. 2018-04-10. en-US.
  30. Book: Schwartz, Marvin D.. Please Be Seated; the evolution of the chair, 2000 BC-2000AD. American Federation of Arts. 1968. New York. 52.
  31. Book: Vegesack, Alexander von. Dimensions of Design - 100 Classical Seats. Vitra Design Museum. 1997. 70.
  32. Harrison. Helen A.. December 20, 1987. How 60 Designs Came to Be. The New York Times. 299 (page 28 LI Art Section).
  33. Web site: David Rowland. 40/4 Stacking Chair. 1964 | MoMA. The Museum of Modern Art.
  34. Web site: David Rowland | "40/4" side chair. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  35. Book: Les Assises Du Siege Contemporain. 1968. Musee des Arts Decoratifs. 106.
  36. Web site: Chair. August 11, 1964. Victoria & Albert Museum.
  37. Web site: Chairs - 1960s. Design Museum.
  38. Web site: Design Chair Collection : Museum : University of Dundee. Dundee. University of. www.dundee.ac.uk. en. 2018-04-13.
  39. Book: David Rowland 40/4. 2011. Howe a/s. 36.
  40. http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/24629?search_no=3&index=1 The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
  41. Web site: "40-in-4" Stacking Chair. philamuseum.org.

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