How This Chair Conquered the World

[Music] no matter where in the world you're from it's very likely that you've already said in this chair at some point in your life this is the so-called monoblock probably the best-selling chair in a history and still it's getting a lot of hate so much that in Basel Switzerland the chair even became a political issue for years it was forbidden by law to place the chair in outdoor areas of restaurants as people complained that they destroyed the cityscape but how do we even get the monoblock and is it an example of good or bad design you can find these chairs pretty much everywhere outside of cafes in Denmark inside an office in Tanzania or at the Western Wall in Jerusalem these chairs make their way into our lives now for anyone interested in design chair design is somewhat fascinating because one might think that a chair would be an object that doesn't need to change fundamentally over time but chairs do change chair design can adapt shape and material to specific function it can break conventions by challenging our idea of what a chair should look like just like in designing other objects designing a chair requires finding ways to combine functionality and visual appeal but chair design can also reflect a certain zeitgeist like martial Boris Vassili chair made out of tubular steel and inspired by bicycle production which was laying the groundwork for much of modern design or with pop art introducing strong color palettes in the 60s and 70s any advancements in space exploration inspiring futuristic furniture and private homes like a bunch of circle and egg-shaped designer chairs but the monoblock is very different it is used so widely that it's sort of meaningless take a look at this photo where was it taken and when it's almost impossible to tell this is an observation made by American media scholar and blogger Ethan Zuckerman who is described the monoblock as a context-free object we tend to associate most objects with a certain time and place if someone shows us a random photo chances are that the objects and it will give us a hint as to when or where the photo was taken but the monoblock chair hardly allows such conclusions to be made the chairs can be found in all parts of the world and it is an object so ubiquitous and if you saw one laying around on a beach you couldn't be sure whether someone brought it there or if it's a flotsam from a different part of the planet the monoblock might be a prime example of globalization but it can also be a reminder how locally different other objects around us still are there are critical views on this chair and some rightly note that the monoblock does not represent sustainable design some cedar chair is a prime example of mass consumption of uniform goods that disregard any sense of individuality monoblocks can be used as an argument against globalization as they represent a decline in local culture but we can also turn this argument around their success does not come from nowhere it's due to the fact that they are affordable and affordability matters since it allows social equality and economical advancement the monoblock is an object that is deeply democratic you might be thinking we're creating a lot of fuss about a chair but that's kind of the point focusing on this object can allow us to think about more abstract questions and these conflicting views on the chair are part of the reason why many artists and designers have created artworks using mana blocks but where do these chairs originate from arguably the first monoblock was made in 1946 by canadian designer DC simpson however at the time the molding process was not suitable for cheap mass production and a whole concept might have been a bit ahead of its time but in the 60s designers got interested in the idea of plastic molded chairs notably debuffing our chair by Helmut Buettner and a chair in my salad by Joe Colombo which was made of several individual molded parts but maybe the most important step towards the monoblock was the introduction of a chair that is now considered a classic in design this is Verena Pantone single piece cantilever chair even if a comparison between the expensive designer chair and the less appreciated garden chair may seem strange the Pantone chair is a technical predecessor since it is the world's first plastic chair that went into production using the same molding method used in today's monoblocks plus verner panton designed to chair in a way that makes it stackable after the success of the Pantone chair there were a number of chairs worldwide that were inspired by this production method and with the introduction of cheaper thermoplastics the path became clear for the mass production of the monoblock in 1972 the French designer avi massenet launched the fitori to a song but it probably took until 1983 when across felix group launched a resin garden chair that the monoblock was sold in large quantities at a cheap price the chairs produced using injection molding here polypropylene granulates are heated to 220 degrees Celsius and injected into a mold that forms the chair the name monoblock derives from this method as the and product is made from a single unbroken material the molds for such production are expensive and cost hundreds of thousands sometimes millions of dollars but the production is greatly scalable since it requires little workforce time and low material costs as a result a single chair and production only costs about three US dollars and is usually sold for around $10 today there are dozens of different monoblock designs available once with vertical or horizontal slots or without them with handles and different shapes and all sorts of different colors but still you know a monoblock when you see one you could also see the chair as a result of some kind of market evolution the chair has evolved with material thicknesses perfectly adjusted so that they are as thin and inexpensive as possible but still stable and durable a chair that is weatherproof stackable and light fundamentally there's not much you can change about it it works universally around the globe maybe it is a perfect design that fulfills everything a designer aspires to but you might still hate it and this is where context comes back to play how we read a design depends on our knowledge of it and what it reminds us of maybe we just don't value it enough these wide plastic chairs are everywhere so we might as well start liking them thank you so much for watching I hope you enjoyed it if you did please leave a like and subscribe that way you support more videos like this also if you want to read more about this topic check out the video description for some links to articles that were really helpful in making this video [Music]

Channel: neo

Views: 2,894,445

Keywords: monobloc, chair, design, architecture, explainer, why, how, plastic, mould, moulded, cheap, thermoplastics, analysis, Wassily chair, marcel breuer, Helmut Bätzner, Chair Universale, Joe Colombo, verner panton, panton chair, Grosfillex, ethan zuckerman, neo, society of geeks, vergil chair, vergil, vergil's, Devil May Cry

Id: JwApFGwMIMQ

Length: 7min 32sec (452 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 27 2020