This is about CHAIRS!

This is about CHAIRS!

Whether one is an ‘armchair critic’ or nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs’; whether one is in the ‘driver’s seat’ or a mere ‘bench-warmer’ – one definitely needs the most ubiquitous yet the most fascinating everyday object; the one we use the most during the course of our day and yet are oblivious to its paramount importance – yes, this is about – Chairs!

Dating back to 2800 BC in ancient Egypt, chairs were reserved exclusively for the elite. Commoners would only be allowed to sit on the ground or at the most on an armless and backless hard stool or bench. The chair has come a long way in their historical, social, cultural, and social trajectory and vicissitudes over the ages. From the Greek Klismos featuring curved legs and curved backrest to the golden age of chairs in the eighteenth century; from the Aeron office chair designed in 1992 to the plethora of modern and contemporary styles and designs, from the times when sitting on them was hierarchical to current sitting rights which are democratic – the chair has seen it all.

That’s what makes the chair the most captivating yet most complicated ‘everyday object’. Whether sitting on the ground or on a chair, what’s certain is that humans definitely need to rest their feet! 

One of the features of modern life is that it’s terribly fast paced. It’s ironic that we live amidst an abundance of material comforts but are always short on time. While we are always rushing in life, being judicious and productivity conscious, we need to be mindful – i.e. live in the moment – pause, sit and think. And what better companion to achieve this than a comfortable chair! 

Ellen Davis Kelly, a physical education professor at the University of Oklahoma, neatly summarized the physiological challenge of human posture in a teaching handbook:

“Posture is a distinct problem to humans because the skeleton is fundamentally unstable in the upright position. A four- or even a three-legged chair or stool can be quite stable. But who ever heard of a two-legged piece of furniture? The two-legged human body presents a continuous problem in maintaining balance, a problem augmented because the feet are a very small base of support for a towering superstructure. And as though this were not a problem enough, the trunk, head, and arms are supported from the hips upward by a one-legged arrangement of the spine”.

The purpose of the chair is to provide respite from this precarious balancing act. But the instability that Kelly describes is, if anything, compounded when one sits down. The weight of the body is concentrated on the ischial tuberosities, or sitting bones, at the base of the pelvis. These bones, which resemble the rockers of a rocking chair, provide support only laterally and allow the body to rock back and forth in the other direction.

A chair back provides the support that allows the muscles to relax, but a too-vertical backrest causes the sitter to slump, while simply angling the chair back creates an unnatural backward leaning posture. If the seat is too hard, it will cause discomfort to the sitting bones, and if it is too soft it will distort the buttock muscles and will press on the ischia, likewise causing discomfort. If a chair is too low, the body’s weight will all be concentrated on the sitting bones instead of being carried by the thighs; if a chair is too high, the sitter will tend to slump forward to place the feet in a more stable position on the floor, but this will constrict breathing and create muscle tension in the neck.”

In 1884, a German orthopedic surgeon, Franz Staffel, judging that most chairs were “constructed more for the eye than for the back,” proposed a low backrest that supported the lumbar region. Staffel, who has been called the “Father of the modern school chair,” recommended that when sitting, the back should approximate as closely as possible the double-S curve of the spine when standing upright.

In his book Now I Sit Me Down, the famous architect Witold Rybczynski wrote ”The way we choose to sit and what we choose to sit on says a lot about us-our values, our tastes, the things we hold dear” so choose your chairs carefully. They are a luxury bestowed upon you – at least if you were a commoner of yore! 

Hans Wegner, a famous Danish furniture designer once remarked, “A chair can be only finished when someone sits in it.” 

Our chairs are up for grabs! Are you ready to sit?