Physical description
Rectilinear plywood chair with open back.
The chair consists of 10 individual plywood elements, screwed together. Two upside down L-shapes form front legs and side seat rails. These are screwed directly to the back legs. The legs are connected to each other by front and back seat rails. The legs rise and slightly arch inwards towards the seat, then out again along the back, and are slightly tapered at each end. The back uprights are connected by a slender top rail which gently curves outwards. The front legs are straight, slightly tapered to the bottom and wider at the sides. The plywood grain is visible the front and back edges of all the supports.
The flat plywood seat is supported on the seat rails and held in place by a cross shape screwed into the side rails but with a small amount of space beneath the centre of the seat offering flexibility. All corners and joins of the chair are composed of crisp right angles. All the screws are intentionally visible.
Place of Origin
Great Britain, UK (designed)
Date
1989 (designed)
Artist/maker
Morrison, Jasper, born 1959 (designer)
Vitra (manufacturer)
Materials and Techniques
Laminated plywood, with birch face veneer, metal screws
Marks and inscriptions
Customer/Objekt/02071 11.95/001 40501800/MONTAGE-L :2/Ply chair mi/vitra
LGA/Nürnberg/geprüfte/Sicherheit
Dimensions
Height: 84 cm, Width: 39.4 cm, Depth: 46.5 cm
Object history note
A version of this chair was exhibited by Jasper Morrison at the 'Some new items for the house' installation at the DAAD gallery in Berlin as contribution to the Werkstadt Berlin in 1988. The intention of the installation was to design a number of objects which, put together, would imply a room. Morrison achieved this by using the most basic materials in the most obvious way. It was seen by Rolf Fehlbaum, the owner of Vitra. Sponsored by Vitra, the installation was next presented at the gallery Fac-simile in Milan. In 1989 Vitra began manufacturing this chair, as part of its limited edition 'Edition' range.
Jasper Morrison in Jasper Morrison, Everything but the walls, Baden 2002, p.16f.:
'The main reason the Plywood Chair looks the way it does is that I had to make it myself, and the only equipment I had was an electric jigsaw and some "ship's curves".So it became a project to cut shapes out of a plywood sheet and reassemble them to make something 3-dimensional. I found that by using a thin sheet of ply for the seat and curving the cross bars below it, I could achieve a cushioning effect, which in some way compensates for other, less accommodating features. After that I did a model with the back filled in, which was more comfortable but less exciting.'
Historical significance: The design is one of Jasper Morrison's most influential designs: its spareness and simplicity is in the Modernist tradition but his use of the material and its natural colour represent a more human version of Modernism. It avoids the grand gesture or any kind of extravagance. The design summarised what would become the concerns of 1990s design, introducing a new type of Modernism, that was softer, sparer, purer, more natural.
Historical context note
By the early 1990s, British furniture had become admired and imitated throughout the European design world for the first time since the turn of the century. Within Britain itself, the image most associated with contemporary furniture is that of 'craft' furniture, i.e. hand made furniture or furniture made in small batches that espouses craft values. Within the international context of the avant-garde furniture trade, it is British furniture designed for manufacture that has garnered attention. One of the best know British designer of such furniture is Jasper Morrison.
Descriptive line
Ply-chair with open back designed by Jasper Morrison, 1989
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Gareth Williams, The Furniture Machine. Funiture since 1990, 2006, p.58f.
100 Masterpieces from the Vitra Design Collection, edited by Alexander von Vegesack at el., 1996, p.132f.
Jasper Morrison. Designs, projects anbd drawings 1981-1989. Introduction by Peter Dormer, London 1990, p. 60ff.
Jasper Morrison, Everything but the walls, Baden 2002, p.16f.
Labels and date
V&A: Westroom (permanent gallery)
26. CHAIR
1989
In the late 1980s Jasper Morrison re-introduced a spirit of modesty and functionalism to design that became very influential. Although made from humble plywood, this chair has a sophistication and elegance that derives from the balance of geometric, rectilinear elements and the sinuous, freehand curve of the back legs.
Designed by Jasper Morrison (Britain, 1959-)
Made by Vitra Editions, Weil-am-Rhein, Germany, 1994
Birch plywood
Given by Vitra Ltd.
Museum no. W.1-1995 [2008-present]
‘Ply-Chair’
1989
Designed by Jasper Morrison (born 1959)
Germany (Weil am Rhein)
Manufactured by Vitra, Weil am Rhein
Laminated plywood, with birch face veneer
Given by Vitra
Museum no. W.1-1995
At first sight, this chair is simple and functional. It is made out of cheap plywood and lacks any colour or decoration. But a closer look reveals that this is a far from simplistic design. The seat and front legs are right-angled, while the back and rear legs are fluid, like the profile of a stringed instrument.
Another version had the back filled in. Morrison described it as ‘more comfortable but less exciting’. [01/12/2012]
Associated names
Fehlbaum, Rolf
Production Note
Manufactured by Vitra for 'Edition' range.
Attribution note: Manufactured by Vitra for 'Edition' range.
Materials
Plywood; Birch
Techniques
Veneering
Categories
Furniture
Production Type
Mass produced
Collection code
FWK
