1000 Chairs (Bibliotheca Universalis Edition)

Sit back, relax, and survey some of the most iconic chairs in history. A must for design addicts and collectors alike, this dependable compendium presents each chair alongside essential information about the designer and their work, from Alvar Aalto to Eva Zeisel, from Art Nouveau to International Style. This recently refurbished edition traverses archetypal seats of the 1800s right up to the most innovative designs of today.

More than any other piece of furniture, the chair has been subjected to the wildest dreams of the designer. The particular curve of a backrest, or the twist of a leg, the angle of a seat or the color of the entire artifact; each element reflects the stylistic consciousness of an era.

From Gerrit Rietveld and Alvar Aalto to Verner Panton and Eva Zeisel, from Art Nouveau to International Style, from Pop Art to Postmodernism, the history of the chair is so complex that it requires a comprehensive encyclopedic work to do it full justice. They are all here: Thonet’s bentwood chairs and Hoffmann’s sitting-machines, Marcel Breuer’s Wassily chair and Ron Arad’s avant-garde armchairs. Early designers and pioneers of the modern chair are presented alongside the most recent innovations in seating.

This dedicated compendium displays each chair as pure form, along with biographical and historical information about the pieces and their designers. An illuminating tome for design aficionados and an essential reference for collectors.