Don't Design Chairs...Or Do.

Chair Design: A 101 class subject in every design school. It is a good design exercise in terms of form and functionality, and also in crafting something new, from an item so common, so useful, and truth-be-told, overly done.

It does help train a student to pay attention to Design History. If you don't read up, chances are somebody would have done the same thing before. That would be most embarrassing for any designer. The design may not be of the same material - as each era has its own innovation - but the mechanics could still be the same.

A chair as a design subject is also convenient as the size is pretty much quite the same. And there are ergonomic principles involved.

Then again maybe not. A chair could just be a flat bum seat.

In any case, I can see the point why these two designers (see video below) are asking folks not to waste time designing chairs. There are already too many of them! Get students to think of other things than just chairsm is what they are asking. But what?

Something topical, something green? Something portable, something stowable? How about something more eclectic such as executive office chairs? They combine form and function, material use, ergonomics, a modern statement, and probable mechanicals.

The list goes on.....(See the next video on the many types of chairs there are!)

Well, besides chairs, a student designer could look at shoes and say the same thing. In the end, it is just an exercise to encourage students to think out-of-the-box and be creative!

Maybe something creative for the disabled?

(1) Don't design chairs video: Link here

(2) Various chair designs: Link here