Chairs

Consider these words which are inscribed on a wall in the Trapholt Museum in Denmark:

“Since the chair has always had a special status among designers, this type of furniture often comes in all sorts of inventive versions in comparison to other furniture types… in other words, chairs can be made with other thoughts in mind than just sitting.”

My husband and I have always been fascinated with chairs and chair design. We would happily give away the couch: our chairs have all the charisma.

The first chairs we purchased were seven dollars apiece, wooden, Danish designed chairs for the dining room. Forty-seven years later, those chairs remain as visually pleasing and functional as ever.

Our modest chair collection has grown slowly through the years. We added chairs designed by Thonet, Josef Hoffmann, Harry Bertoia, Charles Eames, Verner Panton, Phillippe  Starck and Karim Rashid. Fortunately, my spouse and I agree that a well-designed chair is a sculpture as well as a place to be seated.

The Mecca of chair design is the Danish peninsula where two outstanding museums pay homage to the chair as an art form.

In 1995 the town of Tonder imaginatively converted its old water tower to a museum of chairs designed by the renowned furniture designer and native son, H.J. Wegner. This may be the world’s tallest museum with the smallest rooms and the most interactive exhibits… visitors can sit on the chairs.

The Trapholt Musuem is situated on a fjord in Kolding, Denmark, and features a large wing devoted solely to chairs.

If you are a lover of art, design, ambience or wit, we think you might enjoy the following video.

Chair Movie