Description

Book Synopsis

A grand tour of the chair through the ages by our foremost writer on design

Have you ever wondered where rocking chairs came from, or why cheap plastic chairs are suddenly everywhere?

In Now I Sit Me Down, the distinguished architect and writer Witold Rybczynski chronicles the history of the chair from the folding stools of pharaonic Egypt to the ubiquitous stackable monobloc chairs of today. He tells the stories of the inventor of the bentwood chair, Michael Thonet, and of the creators of the first molded-plywood chair, Charles and Ray Eames. He reveals the history of chairs to be a social historyof different ways of sitting, of changing manners and attitudes, and of varying tastes. The history of chairs is the history of who we are. We learn how the ancient Chinese switched from sitting on the floor to sitting in a chair, and how the iconic chair of Middle Americathe BarcaLoungertraces its roots back to the Bauhaus. Rybczynski weaves a rich tapestry th

Now I Sit Me Down

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    A Paperback / softback by Witold Rybczynski

    £15.30

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      Book details

      Publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux
      Published 22 August 2017
      ISBN-13 9780374537036
      978-0374537036
      ISBN-10 0374537038
      Also in:
      History of architecture Home & Garden Antique or vintage furniture / furniture collecting

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      A grand tour of the chair through the ages by our foremost writer on design

      Have you ever wondered where rocking chairs came from, or why cheap plastic chairs are suddenly everywhere?

      In Now I Sit Me Down, the distinguished architect and writer Witold Rybczynski chronicles the history of the chair from the folding stools of pharaonic Egypt to the ubiquitous stackable monobloc chairs of today. He tells the stories of the inventor of the bentwood chair, Michael Thonet, and of the creators of the first molded-plywood chair, Charles and Ray Eames. He reveals the history of chairs to be a social historyof different ways of sitting, of changing manners and attitudes, and of varying tastes. The history of chairs is the history of who we are. We learn how the ancient Chinese switched from sitting on the floor to sitting in a chair, and how the iconic chair of Middle Americathe BarcaLoungertraces its roots back to the Bauhaus. Rybczynski weaves a rich tapestry th

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