The Vitra Design Museum has one of the richest and most important collections of modern furniture design, with over three thousand documented works. The exhibition, 100 years – 100 chairs , organized by Man in collaboration with the Vitra Design Museum, brings the public a paradigmatic selection of masterpieces from this museum. The shapes of the butt intransitive accompany us in the analysis of one of the three fundamental static postures of man: erect, lying or sitting. The aim of the exhibition is to present an emblematic itinerary of the different eras of industrial design, from the end of the 19th century to the present day, through authentic masterpieces by the most prestigious architects and designers. It all began in the second half of the 19th century with curved wooden furniture that allowed industrial mass production. At the beginning of the 20th century, design played a decisive role in cultural development.
Gerrit Rietveld developed furniture with a purified form, while Marcel Breuer designed the first tubular steel chairs. This formal lightness later inspired Alvar Aalto who was the first to use plywood and Jean Prouvé who used techniques and materials until then reserved for aeronautics. After World War II, American design collaborated closely with industry. Designers such as Charles Eames, Eero Saarinen and Harry Bertoia created models that were to be mass-produced to furnish American homes. Design then became an element of everyday life.
In Europe, in that same period, furniture design developed essentially in Italy and Scandinavia. The goal was certainly the same as in the United States: to make design more accessible to the general public. Hans Wegner and Arne Jacobsen were the precursors in the Nordic countries of the research and creation of wooden furniture, while the Italians were exploring the possibilities of a new material, plastic, in that same period. The great versatility of these materials and the development of new types of foams allowed for great creative imagination in the 1960s, when inspiration was sought in Pop Art and the play of shapes and colours. The main representatives of this trend are Verner Panton and Joe Colombo. Later, in the 70s the design will be even more radical, forcing opposition to the rules of Modernism. Designer groups such as Memphis or Archizoom emphasized the fun and playful character of the shapes rather than the functional character. During the 1980s we observed a simultaneous search for individualism and pluralism which led to a diversity of styles that were unprecedented at the time. Philippe Stark, Ron Arad and Gaetano Pesce are important representatives of this trend. The decade of the 90s is instead characterized by a search for simple but innovative shapes and materials. Frank Gehry and Jasper Morrison are two key figures of this period. Imagination continues to be, without a doubt, an important criterion in the conception of forms as demonstrated by Ron Arad and Marc Newson who in turn maintain a concern for functionality and large-scale production.
Edited by Serge Mauduit.
