Created in 1876, by master cabinetmaker Michael Thonet, the Vienna Cafe chair No. 18 is a chair that will never be forgotten. Thonet used the innovative technique of steaming beech wood rods and ...forming them in metal moulds to fabricate the chair's curving parts.
SIX EASY PIECES Rawsthorn, Alice
The New York times magazine,
11/2008
Magazine Article
Rawsthorn details the history of Michael Thonet's wooden chair known as Thonet Model No. 14 and its design that makes it popular even at present. Thonet introduced the furniture in 1859 with an ...elegant and sustainable design but at an affordable price.
Other talents to experiment with rocking chairs over the years include Ralph Rapson (the rapid rocker for Knoll), Gio Ponti (sculptural wood with fine upholstery), Willy Guhl (the Loop rocker in ...cement/fibre bond for outdoor use), Isamu Noguchi (a rocking stool), George Nakashima (a subversive, one-armed take on the classic design), Fanco Albini (a "rocking chaise" that looks like a taut hammock in a wooden frame), Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni (the Sella rocking stool with a black bicycle saddle on a pink lacquered steel column with a cast-iron base), Verner Panton (the Relaxer 2, a semi-circle with cushions but no arms), Eero Aarnio (a bright red ball of moulded glass-reinforced polyesterade with a seat carved out, called Pastil), Man Ray (the surrealist Le Temon rocking object/seater, which looks like an eye), Frank Gehry (the laminated cardboard Easy Edges chair), Ron Arad (Rolling Volume and Loop in stainless or black steel, both weighted to balance the sitter and to make the chair tilt upwards when not in use), Philippe Starck (the aluminium Heritage) and Tom Dixon (the vividly coloured Bird seater). Now, a new generation of designers is getting in on the act, incorporating even more unusual materials and in some cases radically reinterpreting traditional shapes. Katie Walker's Ribbon Rocker, for example, was inspired by a sculpture by Naum Gabo and a basket by Shounsai Shono. "To me, the particular challenge was to design a form in which the backrest, armrests and runners are made from one continuous piece of laminated ash - creating a single fluid form which is light both visually and physically and rocks on itself," she says. "A rocking chair is not an essential piece of furniture. It is a luxury, emotive 'love it, must have it' item that produces a great deal of pleasure and as such it seems fitting that their design should be expressive of that indulgence." Some of the funkiest of today's new rockers are plush, fitting comfortably into bedrooms, living rooms and studies and blurring the line between rocker and armchair. Take the Mom from Lithuania-based Contraforma, upholstered in wool, emblazoned with over-sized ochre motifs and incorporating shell-shaped curved arms that extend to the floor. Or the sinuous Neo designed by Alban-Sebastien Gilles for Ligne Roset, which rocks on its curved base. Or Tord Boontje's edgy design for Moroso, more akin to a chaise, decorated in vividly coloured felt with laser-cut cascades of flowers and geometric shapes. "The appeal of a rocker is that it is tied with emotions and sensory experience, between game and pleasure, far removed from pure functionality and fits with the trend for easy living rooms with a palpable sense of relaxed conviviality," Gilles says.
