Chair Up
This dinner guest is always invited, but doesn’t eat or drink, and never joins the conversation. But long after the party’s over, it will still be at the table. Our favorite dining companion: the dining chair.
On the one hand, a dining chair should never come between you and your meal. It should serve you nobly whether you’re chewing or chatting idly. It should be a silent partner who assuredly sees you through the night, securely grounding you as drink takes to your head, gently coddling you as your weight gradually disperses, and propping you up gingerly when the time comes to retire. On the other hand, every chair, dining or otherwise, makes a bold statement. The chair is no mere machine for sitting. It tells people things that are historical, stylistic, and highly personal. The chair holds a unique place in our history: an ancient tool evolved and updated in tight symbiosis. Chairs evoke the limitless variation with which the brain can address a simple task.
“I am pretty far on the spectrum of style over comfort,” Richard Wright tells us from his Chicago-based auction house. “It sort of goes hand-in-hand with what I do.” Imagine the final scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark, but with the endless stacks of wooden crates replaced by every imaginable 20th-century design collectible, and you get a sense for the world over which Wright presides. This is a man who knows his chairs, and knows they are a loaded subject. “When you deal with a design history, so much of it is about the chair, so you become very critical of chairs and chair forms. I have a harsher criteria for chairs—especially dining chairs.” This criterion, which deems that a dining chair should remain comfortable over the course of a dinner party while still living up to its stylistic responsibilities, has proved difficult to fulfill. Even with the pick of the litter, Wright is still searching for his ideal set. “Right now I have these Mies van der Rohe chairs which are incredibly heavy. My three-year-old can barely move them. I’ve been searching for a contemporary dining chair that fits what I want, and honestly, I haven’t found it yet.” Would any of our seven dining chair picks have the Wright stuff?
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Organic Chair
Expert Opinion: I don’t want to sound like a whiny antiques dealer, but my heart kind of sank when I saw that this chair was available commercially. In my mind I always think of it as being this wonderful, historical object within which you can trace the directions that design would take over the following decades. To change my mindset from that to “Is it comfortable?” or “Can I use that in my dining room?” took some readjustment. Just the thought of sitting in it is crazy—you’d never be allowed to with an original, they’re so fragile.
What We Think: Wright informed us that an Organic chair once fetched $125,000 at auction, but in 2004 one failed to sell for $40,000 (signaling a downward shift in the Eames market—buy low, folks). At those prices even Mitt Romney would balk at furnishing his dining room with originals, so we’re thankful Vitra has worked its magic here, despite the ramifications for whiny antiques dealers. The dream team of Eero Saarinen and Charles Eames doesn’t disappoint: This is one of the most comfortable chairs we’ve ever sat in.
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PK9
Expert Opinion: Aesthetically I love these chairs. They really illustrate what makes Kjærholm so special as a designer: He took International Style and brought some heart to it. But I have a real problem with three-legged chairs in terms of dining chairs. If you are going to sit for a fairly short amount of time (and not drink), it’s OK, but if you are going to have a dinner party and relax, then three legs don’t work.
What We Think: On a recent visit to New York, we took the opportunity to eat at the Museum of Modern Art, where these chairs are used in one of the restaurants. Kjærholm! we thought as we waited to be seated. After an hour in the chair, however, we had a different take: We felt like a jack-in-the-box. The PK9 proves to be too much of a balancing act for a proper dining experience.
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Swag Leg Chair
Expert Opinion: I’ve always loved this chair. But I only want one—or maybe two—of them, and I want it behind a little delicate desk. The thought of eight of these around a table starts to terrify me. There is the famous quote of Eero Saarinen saying he designed his pedestal chair to “clean up the slum of legs” around the table. This would be beyond a slum; it’s the ultimate ghetto of legs.
What We Think: The thought of too many Swag Leg chairs in the same room is enough to make us lose our appetites. That said, at a table for four, we could see it working. We also commend Herman Miller’s efforts to update the piece for the 21st century with sustainable materials.
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HP/1
Expert Opinion: I don’t know why I am so against a sled base. I always think of it with the Bertoia chair and being in a museum cafeteria setting. I like the graphic nature of the seat here, which is what makes the chair distinctive. The range of colors also plays into that graphic quality. But with the raised glides on the feet and the base, [the HP/1] wouldn’t transition well into a formal dining room. Maybe in a kitchen, with a mix of colors.
What We Think: This chair clearly owes its lineage to the Eames and Bertoia classics, but the molded seat, with its perfectly executed curves, makes it a modern-day classic. Whether it’s too informal for your dining room is up to you, but the only thing keeping it out of ours is its lack of arms.
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Metropolitan Side Chair
Expert Opinion: I thought this chair, with the little reveal in the back, was safely mod. It wouldn’t upstage the room, and because of the upholstery it would be comfortable. On the downside, the bases are lifted right from historical chairs. The pedestal is more officey, and the sled is a less elegant base than I like to see in a dining room statement.
What We Think: If Bernett’s side chair were to win an Oscar, it would be for Best Supporting Actor (or actress, depending on your upholstery). With its quiet take on modernism, it’s not going to be a star, but for that very reason it works in a variety of environments—not to mention that the seat is balanced and comfortable, and holds up for a whole meal.
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De La Warr Pavilion Chair
Expert Opinion: I like the perforation, but it is almost directly lifted from Hans Coray’s iconic Landi chair. However, I wouldn’t particularly like the perforation on an interior usage—the visual punch of it just makes sense outside because of the nod toward function. The upholstered version with the perforated back is sort of an odd disconnect, and with the solid upholstered version you start to lose something.
What We Think: What we appreciate here is the fact that the designers have recognized that dining chairs are so often seen from behind, tucked underneath a table, and have therefore created two very distinct façades.
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Carbon Chair
Expert Opinion: I love this design. It is clearly a pastiche of chairs designed by Eames and Bertoia, but so wonderfully updated in this new material. I also particularly enjoy the feel of the hand that made it, or the play of randomness in the construction. It’s taking that very rational “good design for the masses” and tweaking it to express humanism a little bit more. Intellectually I really like it, but would I want to sit in it at a dinner party for two hours?
What We Think: If you’re looking for something quirky and clever, look no further than Holland with its cache of Eindhoven-educated designers. The Carbon chair may be a 21st-century classic. However, if you wear short shorts or skirts, it might be best to opt for another seat
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U look ugly i forget to say that as well.
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