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Space age desk chair12/25/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() The Centripetal Chair was too ergonomic for its time.īut Victorian propriety was hardly a lasting bulwark against the rising tide of a manufacturing / service economy. The chair sold poorly outside the United States, because the Victorian norms prevailing in the Anglophone world at the time viewed comfortable seating as immoral. Made of cast iron and upholstered in velvet, the chair’s standard features included full tilt movement enabled by four large springs concealed in the frame, a revolving seat, and casters for movement. It looks dated, but the chair was surprisingly functional by today’s standards. The example depicted to the right now sits in the Brooklyn Museum. As white collar workers became a crucial economic resource for the first time, their bosses began to recognize the value of making them comfortable.Įnter the first mass production office chair: the Centripetal Office Chair, designed by the inventor Thomas Warren and launched by the American Chair Company in 1851 at the Great Exhibition in London. This was the first time in history that productivity accrued on a mass scale from people sitting indoors. Businesses empowered by rail access in scaling and expanding to new markets employed more and more people-creating a cadre of middle managers. As the traditional model of labor was upended, more administrative workers were needed for logistical coordination and bookkeeping, and the concept of general and administrative workers was born. Then came the railroad, the advent of manufacturing, and the Industrial Revolution. ![]() It goes without saying that this was a fairly uncommon use case. In fact, Charles Darwin is the earliest known adopter of a proto-office chair, grafting wheels onto a normal chair in the 1840s so he could swivel between specimens. The Industrial Revolution Gave Birth To Office Chairsīefore the nineteenth century, most of the global workforce was employed in agrarian labor-an “office chair” was only relevant for the wealthy, government officials and academics. By tracking how the office chair evolved with the changing nature of work, we can better understand how we ended up sitting on kinetic sculptures of mesh and metal today, and where the office chair might go next. Given the modern materials, clean lines and mechanical complexity of high-end office chairs today, it may be surprising to learn that the office chair as we know it today was born more than a century ago. But how did this definition evolve? It’s no exaggeration to claim that the office chair is one of the most important design objects in our daily lives: the average white collar worker spends five and a half hours a day sitting at work. This set of traits loosely defines what we think of as the modern office chair. If you’re in possession of a nicer specimen, your chair may offer adjustable lumbar support and armrests, mesh fabric for better air circulation as you work, and a high-density cushion that evenly distributes your weight. There’s an even stronger chance that this chair exhibits certain features-a swiveling base with spokes, rolling casters, tilt movement, adjustable height. If you’re reading this article at your workplace or a home office, there’s a strong chance you are sitting in a chair. ![]()
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