This chair is one of the earliest furniture designs by Jasper Morrison (b.1959). He was inspired to design a chair comprised only of structural elements after he saw an antique example with its seat missing. He originally called this piece the Drinking Man's Chair, and the little metal disks at the end of the arms were intended to hold drinking glasses. He renamed it the Thinking Man's Chair. The more sophisticated name was inspired by the slogan 'The Thinking Man's Smoke' that appeared on the packet of pipe cleaners he bought to make a model of the chair.
The use of tubular steel recalls chairs of the 1920s and 1930s, and Morrison was an admirer of Modernist design of that period. With the early tubular steel furniture, functionalism dictated the structure. With this chair, the structure is more to do with free form. Nor did Modernist designers of the 1920s and 1930s paint their metal chairs in colours like this. Morrison's early prototypes included the dimensions of different steel elements painted onto the chair as a kind of decoration. The Italian firm of Cappellini made the production versions of the chair, like this one, but omitted the writing.
Physical description
Tubular steel and strip steel chair, painted pale green. The tubular front legs rise to form the side rails of the seat and the sides of the back, which are joined by a curved tubular steel back rail. The rear legs and arms are continuous serpentine curves of tubular steel, finished with circular metal disks. Steel strips run from the front rail of the seat back to the rear stretcher, and two wider horizontal strips create the back.
Date
1986 (designed)
1989 (manufactured)
Artist/maker
Morrison, Jasper, born 1959 (designer)
Cappellini (manufacturer)
Materials and Techniques
Welded and painted tubular steel and strip steel
Dimensions
Height: 657 mm, Width: 630 mm, Depth: 930 mm, Height: 340 mm seat height
Descriptive line
Tubular steel and strip steel chair, painted pale green
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Jasper Morrison, 'Everything but the walls', Lars Muller publishers, 2002, p.7
"For a long time after I noticed an antique chair with its seat missing outside a shop I had the idea to do a chair consisting only of structural elements. Many sketches later I arrived at an approximation of the final shape, which included two small tables on the ends of the arms and an exotic assembly of curved metalwork. It was to be called 'The Drinking Man's Chair'. On my way back from a tobacconist's shop with a packet of pipe cleaners to make a model with, I noticed the slogan 'The Thinking Man's Smoke' on the packet, which i quickly adapted as a more sophisticated title. Later on with the prototype in front of me, destined for a show in Japan, I added the dimensions as a kind of surrogate decoration. Zeev Aram exhibited it in London at his showroom, and Guilio Cappellini, seeing it there, contacted me about producing it. That's how I got started with Cappellini."
Labels and date
103-6
'THINKINGMAN'S CHAIR'
Designed by Jasper Morrison (British, born 1959), 1987
Made by Cappellini S.p.A, Italy, 1989
Tubular and strip steel, painted green
Morrison's designs often combine simple geometry with freehand curves. He pays as much attention to the spaces within and around the object as to the form itself. For those reason the critic Peter Dormer compared Mossison's designs to typography. These characteristics are also evident in this chair.
Given by Aram Designs
W.15-1989 [2006]
Production Note
Jasper Morrison made the first editions of this chair himself. Aram Designs exhibited his versions and Cappellini took on production. Aram retailed Cappellini's versions, such as this one.
NB published sources give the date of design and production as 1986, whereas the museum register has the date of design as1987 and production from 1989.
Materials
Tubular steel; Sheet steel
Techniques
Painted; Welded
Categories
Furniture
Collection code
FWK
