In fact, tastes are predictable enough that you can often tell a designer’s favorite chair maker from his or her shirt. Black button-down? Mies van der Rohe. Black turtleneck? Peter Opsvik. Low-cut black V-neck and conspicuous hair product? Campanas. Every design school graduate wants a cool-looking chair in their portfolio, and chair design can be a savagely competitive field. If you can be bothered to read to the back of Wallpaper Magazine, I imagine you’ll find the page where they list all the job openings for the position of Famous Designer: “Need not apply unless strangely enthusiastic about crafting beautiful, terrible furniture for rich people.”
I hate to piss on the party, but chairs suck. All of them. No designer has ever made a good chair, because it is impossible. Some are better than others, but all are bad. Not only are chairs a health hazard, they also have a problematic history that has inextricably tied them to our culture of status-obsessed individualism. Worse still, we’ve become dependent on them and it’s not clear that we’ll ever be free.
Some other neat common, but unhealthy trends.
Mixing drums has become the ultimate test of a sound engineers abilities. I think that like the industrial engineer, this has become a sort of statement. So and so mixes his drums "this way" or uses "this technique". It's something we can put a small "signature" on the project with. Maybe its just the engineers I know though. One thing that is different, chairs may suck but drums are amazing. I guess my convoluted point is that in most pursuits/careers there is an equivalent "thing" that one aspires to perfect as a test of ability. For us, it's drums.
wow... I suppose this is a deeper question than I first realized when you asked it. I suppose it might be a hubski post in and of itself. Working in a cubicle is unnatural. They feel sterile. The environment is noisy - but not the invigorating noise that can inspire and motivate. Instead it's a noise of people trying to keep their work and their conversation to themselves. It is a din of hushed anxiety. I'm sure studies have been done. someday I'll read them.
I try and stay aware of how long I both sit and stand. I think that we can begin to attack the author's position about being stuck with chairs by examining the height of surfaces that we work on. For me, I made a 40" table for my home that has tall bar stools with it. It's great because I can both sit or stand to type and work without losing productivity either way. I think it also reminds me of being at the pub which has its own kind of comfort...
- If chairs are such a dumb idea, how did we get stuck with them? Why does our culture demand that we spend most of every day sitting on objects that hurt us? What the hell happened?
It should be no surprise to readers of Jacobin that the answer lies in class politics. Chairs are about status, power, and control. That’s why we like them. Ask any furniture historian about the origins of the chair and they’ll gleefully tell you that it all started with the throne.
I really enjoyed this read. Thanks.