40/4 Chair

The 40/4 chair is the first compactly stackable chair invented. David Rowland designed the chair in 1964. Forty chairs can be stacked within a height of 4 feet (120 cm), giving the chair its name. Over time it has received a number of design awards and is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, as well as other museums internationally.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

40/4 chair
The 40/4 stacking chair
DesignerDavid Rowland
Date1964
MaterialsFrame: steel rod Seat and back: coated steel, wood veneers, plastic resin, or upholstery depending on model.
Style / traditionModern
Sold byHowe a/s

Description

The frame of the chair is made of 7/16” solid steel rod. The seat and back are formed sheet metal with 3/16” rolled edges and coated in vinyl.[8] Some models substitute wood veneers, plastic resin and upholstery over wood as components.[9]

Chairs can be stacked on specially designed dollies for storage and movement.[8][10] Various configurations allow the chairs to be stacked in a number of ways while striving to minimize the floor space utilized.[11]

In 2004 Rowland worked with Howe a/s to introduce an expanded family of the 40/4 chair.[6]

160 chairs on a quadruple dolly

History

Rowland developed the 40/4 chair over a period of 8 years.[1] In 1963 he was awarded a patent for the chair's design.[12][13][14][15][16][17]

Initially, Rowland showed the chair to many companies in an effort to license the design. In 1961, Florence Knoll licensed the chair for her company, Knoll Associates, however canceled a license after six months. Rowland later showed the chair to Davis Allen, head of interior design at the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). Allen requested 17,000 chairs for the a campus SOM was designing for the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). To fulfill the request, Rowland licensed the design to General Fireproofing Co. (GF) in Youngstown, Ohio.[18][19] In May 1965, While the first order for was still being produced, 250 chairs were hand assembled and installed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City for the opening of its new wing.[8]

The 40/4 was an immediate success.[3][12] It won the grand prize at the prestigious 13th Milan Triennale,[20] and has been included in museum collections and exhibitions internationally.

In the book the Modern Chair, Clement Meadmore described the chair as having “beautiful simplicity and total appropriateness.”[10] Twenty five hundred 40/4s were installed in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London in 1973, site of Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding,[20] and remain in use. In 2001 it was named #1 of The Top 10 Commercial Interiors products of the Past 50 Years by Contract Design Magazine.[21]

The chair has been in continuous production since its introduction and has sold over 8 million units.[22][23][19]

General Fireproofing held the license for the chair from 1963 until 2002 when the company was taken over by OSI Furniture LLC. In 2013, Howe Europe, (now Howe a/s), of Denmark, which had had a sublicense to the chair in Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Asia (except for Indonesia) acquired the license for the 40/4 in the United States and Canada.[24][25] In Indonesia, PT. Indovickers Furnitama holds the license, and also produces the 40/4 in a rattan version.

Awards and Recognition
  • Grand Prize at the 13th Triennale in Milan, Italy, 1964[26]
  • International Design Award, American Institute of Interior Designers (A.I.D.), 1965[27]
  • Master Design Award from Product Engineering Magazine, 1965[28]
  • Gold Medal Award for Furniture from the Austrian Government, 1968[1]
  • Industrial Design Award, International Biennial Exhibition, Rio de Janeiro, 1968[1]
  • Design in America: The Cranbrook Vision 1925-1950 exhibition, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1984[29]
  • “The Modern Chair” exhibition, The Art Institute, Chicago, IL[30]
  • “Please Be Seated” exhibition, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.[31]
  • U.S. Industrial Design exhibit at XIX Olympiad Games, Mexico City[31]
  • Dimensions of Design exhibition - 100 Classical Seats, Vitra Design Museum[32]
  • The Product of Design exhibition Katonah Gallery, Westchester, New York[33]
  • Number 1 of The Top 10 Commercial Interiors Products of the Past 50 Years, Contract Magazine, 2010[21]

Curated examples

See also

References
  1. Rowland, David (October 6, 1988). "Stackable Chair". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  2. Emery, Sherman (June 1964). "The Story of a Chair". Interior Design Magazine: 122.
  3. Hiesinger, Kathryn B.; Marcus, George H. (1993). Landmarks of the Twentieth-Century Design, An Illustrated Handbook. New York: Abbeville Press. pp. 223. ISBN 1-55859279-2.
  4. You Tube video: min.1:22 “40/4 chair liberates living architecture in St. Barnabas Church”. (accessed April 3, 2018)
  5. You Tube video: minute: 1:09, “The 40/4 chair creating value in Canterbury Cathedral” (accessed April 3, 2018)
  6. You Tube video: 40/4 enhances architecture at Suffolk One. (accessed April 3, 2018)
  7. "David Rowland. 40/4 Stacking Chair. 1964". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  8. J., W. (June 1964). "David Rowland's 40/4 Chair". Interiors Magazine: 102.
  9. "40/4: The Family". Howe. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  10. Meadmore, Clement (1975). The Modern Chair: Classics in Production. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. pp. 136–138. ISBN 0442253052.
  11. Howe a/s (2015). Howe Collection. Denmark: Howe a/s. pp. 11, 14–31.
  12. US 3080194, Rowland, David, "Compactly Stackable Chair", issued March 5, 1963
  13. US 3275371, Rowland, David, "Compactly Stackable Chair", issued September 27, 1966
  14. US 3278227, Rowland, David, "Compactly Stackable Chairs and Chair-Rows", issued October 11, 1966
  15. US 3338591, Rowland, David, "Dolly for Stacking Chairs", issued April 29, 1967
  16. US 3404916, Rowland, David, "Compactly Stackable Chair", issued October 8, 1968
  17. US 3446530, Rowland, David, "Nested Armchair", issued May 27, 1969
  18. Von, Robinson (December 2004). "99% Perspiration". Metropolis: 149.
  19. "40/4 Chair". University Library, University of Illinois at Chicago. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  20. Hevesi, Dennis (August 25, 2010). "David Rowland, Maker of a Tidily Stacked Chair, Dies at 86". The New York Times: B12.
  21. "The Top 10 Commercial Interiors Products of the Past 50 Years". Contract Design Magazine: 22. March 2010.
  22. Design in America : the Cranbrook vision, 1925-1950. Clark, Robert Judson., Belloli, Andrea P. A., Detroit Institute of Arts., Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.). New York: Abrams, in association with the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1983. pp. 129. ISBN 0810908018. OCLC 9393845.CS1 maint: others (link)
  23. "40/4" side chair, 1960, retrieved 2018-04-10
  24. "Danish Brand Howe Relaunches in the U.S. Market". Interior Design. 2014-01-28. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  25. "David Rowland - introduction". Howe a/s. April 20, 2018.
  26. Staff. "U.S. Exhibit Takes Top Prize in Milan", The New York Times, September 26, 1964. Accessed August 26, 2010.
  27. "A.I.D. Gives Awards to 14 Designs". New York Times. Jan 4, 1965.
  28. "New Fashions That Sit Well". Houston Chronicle. May 27, 1965.
  29. Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. New York: Harry N. Abrams Publishers. 1983. pp. 129. ISBN 0810908018.
  30. Kamin, Blair. "A small show about chairs hints at larger design ambitions at the Art Institute". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  31. Schwartz, Marvin D. (1968). Please Be Seated; the evolution of the chair, 2000 BC-2000AD. New York: American Federation of Arts. p. 52.
  32. Vegesack, Alexander von (1997). Dimensions of Design - 100 Classical Seats. Vitra Design Museum. p. 70.
  33. Harrison, Helen A. (December 20, 1987). "How 60 Designs Came to Be". The New York Times: 299 (page 28 LI Art Section).
  34. Les Assises Du Siege Contemporain. Musee des Arts Decoratifs. 1968. p. 106.
  35. Dundee, University of. "Design Chair Collection : Museum : University of Dundee". www.dundee.ac.uk. Retrieved 2018-04-13.
  36. David Rowland 40/4. Howe a/s. 2011. p. 36.
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