# List of chairs
A chair is a movable seat, usually with legs and a back, made for seating one person. This article surveys the main kinds of chairs and the notable named designs within them, from ancient ceremonial seats to mass-produced and ergonomic models. The history of the chair goes back thousands of years, and although its design has taken many shapes, its core function has remained the same: an object specifically made for seating a person[1](https://www.moma.org/collection/terms/design/chairs).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Definition | A movable seat, usually with four legs, for a single person; the word derives from Latin *cathedra* (Greek *kathedra*), which also gives "cathedral" and the professorial or ecclesiastical "chair"[2](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Chair) |
| Earliest types | Some of the earliest chairs across cultures are customized, one-of-a-kind ceremonial thrones[1](https://www.moma.org/collection/terms/design/chairs) |
| Oldest complete European example | The Guldhøj folding chair from southern Jutland, excavated in 1891, is the only completely preserved chair from Bronze Age Europe[3](https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/guldhoj-folding-chair-the-only-completely-preserved-chair-from-bronze-age-europe) |
| First mass-produced icon | Michael Thonet's bentwood Chair No. 14, first cataloged in 1859; over 50 million had been sold by 1930[4](https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/thonet-and-the-invention-of-bentwood-furniture) |
| Tubular steel milestone | Marcel Breuer's Club Chair model B3 (1925–26), one of the first chairs made of tubular steel[5](https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/take-a-seat-a-story-of-modernism-in-three-chairs) |
| Plywood milestone | Charles and Ray Eames' Side Chair (model DCW), 1946, molded and bent birch plywood[6](https://www.moma.org/collection/works/1971) |
| Ergonomic evidence | A 2022 systematic review found very low- to low-quality evidence for chair interventions reducing office workers' lower back pain[7](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33970803/) |
## Ancient and ceremonial chairs
In many early cultures the chair was a marker of rank rather than an everyday object. The Met holds a low wooden "Chair for a Woman" from Egypt's New Kingdom, ca. 1550–1425 BCE, with a straight back, legs carved as lion's legs, and a mesh seat of the type shown in Egyptian wall paintings of banquet scenes[8](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/548636). Folding seats carried particular dignity: the X-frame folding stool appeared first in the ancient [Near East](https://www.edgepedia.org/near-east) and was later adopted and refined in Egypt[9](https://resources.metmuseum.org/resources/metpublications/pdf/Campeche_Chair_in_The_Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art_The_Metropolitan_Museum_Journal_v_38_2003.pdf), and the Bronze Age Guldhøj folding chair, found in a burial mound in 1891, resembled chairs known from ancient Egypt and Greece and likely signified high rank[3](https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/guldhoj-folding-chair-the-only-completely-preserved-chair-from-bronze-age-europe).
Seats signified power. Generally, the higher and fancier the seat, the more power the sitter; until modern times chairs were far more expensive and difficult to make than stools or benches, so a rare room might contain only one, and the most important person, the "chairman," sat in it[10](https://time.com/4292353/game-of-thrones-vs-real-thrones/).
Renaissance Florence produced display chairs of unusual ambition. The Met's *sgabello*, attributed to the workshop of Giuliano and Benedetto da Maiano and dated ca. 1489–91, was made for Filippo Strozzi and derives from a low three-legged stool (*tre gambe*) with an elongated backrest carved with the Strozzi crescent moons and a molting falcon, the owner's personal emblem[11](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/196580).
## From craft to industry
The seventeenth century brought a transition from chests and built-in benches to movable furniture, which caused chair manufacturing to take off; the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries developed chair types in a variety of artistic styles[12](https://rohsska.se/en/chairs/). Until the mid-19th century most chairs were made by hand, but industrialists then experimented with production techniques to manufacture quality furniture swiftly and cheaply in large quantities[13](https://designmuseum.org/design/chairs-late-1800s).
**Thonet and bentwood.** The Austrian manufacturer Michael Thonet (1796–1871) began bending wood in the 1830s as an alternative to carving, and in 1855 discovered that steam and a metal strip let solid wood be bent, earning patents that guaranteed a near-monopoly[4](https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/thonet-and-the-invention-of-bentwood-furniture). His firm's key principle was to make as many chair models as possible from as few parts as possible, packed flat and assembled by retailers; production rose from 10,000 chairs per year in 1857 to 1,810,000 by 1913, and the firm made up to 1.8 million pieces a year by 1912[4](https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/thonet-and-the-invention-of-bentwood-furniture). Chair No. 14, the "Consumer Chair," succeeded as a mass-production design in 1859 and by 1867 could be made from six pieces of bentwood, ten screws, and two washers; the Design Museum calls it the most successful industrial product of the 19th century[13](https://designmuseum.org/design/chairs-late-1800s). In England, the Chiltern town of [High Wycombe](https://www.edgepedia.org/high-wycombe) became a single-industry chair town from around 1800, its factories later including G-Plan, Parker Knoll, and Ercol[14](https://wycombemuseum.org.uk/chairs).
## Modernist classics
The twentieth century made the chair a testing ground for new materials, and functionalism broke through and became widespread[12](https://rohsska.se/en/chairs/).
- **Tubular steel.** [Marcel Breuer](https://www.edgepedia.org/marcel-breuer), appointed master of the Bauhaus furniture workshop at 23 in 1925, designed the Club Chair model B3 (later the Wassily), whose frame was inspired by a bicycle frame and used tubular steel for maximum strength with minimum material[5](https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/take-a-seat-a-story-of-modernism-in-three-chairs). Mart Stam is credited with the first cantilevered chair, a chair without back legs relying on the strength of its tubular steel front legs, and [Ludwig Mies van der Rohe](https://www.edgepedia.org/ludwig-mies-van-der-rohe) patented his curvilinear cantilevered MR chair, manufactured by Thonet from 1927 and still in production[5](https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/take-a-seat-a-story-of-modernism-in-three-chairs).
- **Bent wood.** Reacting against steel, [Alvar Aalto](https://www.edgepedia.org/alvar-aalto) designed the Paimio armchair (1930) for the tuberculosis sanatorium he had also designed, using bent laminated birch and bent plywood so patients could rest comfortably and breathe more easily[5](https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/take-a-seat-a-story-of-modernism-in-three-chairs).
- **Molded plywood and plastic.** Charles and Ray Eames developed molded-plywood chairs from their first-place entry with Eero Saarinen in MoMA's 1940 "Organic Design" competition; their 1946 DCW side chair is molded and bent birch plywood with rubber shockmounts[6](https://www.moma.org/collection/works/1971) • [15](https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/eames/furniture.html). Their chairs for Herman Miller came in four materials: molded plywood, fiberglass-reinforced plastic, bent and welded wire mesh, and cast aluminum[15](https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/eames/furniture.html), and the Plastic Side and Armchairs were the first mass-produced plastic chairs in furniture history[16](https://www.wallpaper.com/design-interiors/charles-ray-eames-furniture-design-definitive-guide).
- **Danish modern.** Hans J. Wegner, called the "king of chairs," designed about 500 different chairs, of which over 100 reached mass production; his China Chair (Fritz Hansen, 1944) drew on Ming Dynasty design, and his Wishbone chair used a Y-shaped back to support a steam-bent top. His three-legged Shell Chair of 1963 was a commercial failure until Carl Hansen & Søn reintroduced it in 1998[17](https://www.wallpaper.com/design-interiors/how-hans-j-wegner-became-the-king-of-chairs).
In Vienna, the modern movement produced its own icons: [Josef Hoffmann](https://www.edgepedia.org/josef-hoffmann)'s bentwood-and-plywood "Sitz-Maschine" ("machine for sitting") armchair with adjustable backrest, made with J. & J. Kohn around 1905, Adolf Loos' "Knieschwimmer" easy chair, and Otto Wagner's [bentwood furniture](https://www.edgepedia.org/bentwood-furniture) for the Post Office Savings Bank[18](https://www.moebelmuseumwien.at/en/about-the-museum/the-collections/the-viennese-modern-movement).
## Chair types by use
Because form and function interact closely in chair design, each chair has its own set of criteria governing the process; a designer must consider who will use it and where, from a general-user airplane seat to a custom-built wheelchair for a specific user[1](https://www.moma.org/collection/terms/design/chairs). Major functional families include:
- **Ceremonial and status chairs**: thrones and display pieces such as the Strozzi sgabello[11](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/196580).
- **Folding chairs**: an ancient prestige form, from the Guldhøj chair to modern camping designs[3](https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/guldhoj-folding-chair-the-only-completely-preserved-chair-from-bronze-age-europe).
- **Rocking chairs**: Thonet's first, the Rocking Chair No. 1 of 1860, styled under Arts and Crafts influence[13](https://designmuseum.org/design/chairs-late-1800s).
- **Office and task chairs**: adjustable seating designed around workstation ergonomics[19](https://www.osha.gov/etools/computer-workstations/components/chairs/).
- **Wheelchairs and assistive seating**: designed for a specific user, with fit affecting comfort, posture, and propulsion[1](https://www.moma.org/collection/terms/design/chairs).
- **Experimental and art chairs**: in the second half of the twentieth century chair design became an area of experimentation where designers let imagination run, producing pieces that are practically impossible to sit on[12](https://rohsska.se/en/chairs/); recent examples include Seungjin Yang's balloon chairs, shown from Seoul's museums to the XXI Triennale di Milano[20](https://www.wallpaper.com/design-interiors/seungjin-yang-profile).
## Ergonomics
For computer workstations, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration states that a well-designed, appropriately adjusted chair is an essential element of a safe and productive workstation, providing support to the back, legs, buttocks, and arms. Its guidance calls for a backrest that conforms to the spine's natural curvature with height-adjustable lumbar support, recline of at least 15 degrees from vertical, a padded seat with a rounded "waterfall" edge, height adjustability so the feet rest flat, and a five-leg base with casters[19](https://www.osha.gov/etools/computer-workstations/components/chairs/).
The health evidence is mixed. A 2012 systematic review of five studies found that all reported a reduction in self-reported musculoskeletal pain after chair interventions, with adjustable chairs plus training holding the most promise, but judged the evidence only moderate[21](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3552974/). A 2022 review of fourteen studies reached the opposite practical conclusion: with very low- to low-quality evidence for conflicting effects on pain, discomfort, and trunk muscle activation, chair interventions are not recommended to reduce lower back pain unless higher-quality studies change the picture[7](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33970803/).
## Collections and legacy
Chairs are treated as historical artifacts in their own right. The Vitra Design Museum film *Chair Times* arranges 125 chairs from its collection by year of production, from 1807 to designs straight off the 3D printer, as a timeline of modern seating design[22](https://www.vitra.com/en-un/magazine/details/chair-times). The Röhsska Museum displays 144 chairs from the seventeenth century to the present in open storage, reflecting how the chair has alternated between utilitarian object and decorative piece[12](https://rohsska.se/en/chairs/). Wycombe Museum holds a nationally significant chair collection of over 24,000 items overall, documenting the town's chair industry[14](https://wycombemuseum.org.uk/chairs). As Paola Antonelli, curator at the [Museum of Modern Art](https://www.edgepedia.org/museum-of-modern-art), puts it, "In chairs more than in any other object, human beings are the unit of measure," and designers must walk a fine line between standardization and personalization[1](https://www.moma.org/collection/terms/design/chairs).
## References
1. [Chairs, MoMA](https://www.moma.org/collection/terms/design/chairs)
2. [Chair, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Wikisource](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Chair)
3. [Guldhøj folding chair: The only completely preserved chair from Bronze Age Europe, Live Science](https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/guldhoj-folding-chair-the-only-completely-preserved-chair-from-bronze-age-europe)
4. [Thonet and the invention of bentwood furniture, Victoria and Albert Museum](https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/thonet-and-the-invention-of-bentwood-furniture)
5. [Take a seat – a story of Modernism in three chairs, Victoria and Albert Museum](https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/take-a-seat-a-story-of-modernism-in-three-chairs)
6. [Charles Eames, Ray Eames. Side Chair (model DCW). 1946, MoMA](https://www.moma.org/collection/works/1971)
7. [Channak, S., Klinsophon, T., Janwantanakul, P. (2022). The effects of chair intervention on lower back pain, discomfort and trunk muscle activation in office workers: a systematic review. Int J Occup Saf Ergon.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33970803/)
8. [Chair for a Woman, New Kingdom, The Metropolitan Museum of Art](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/548636)
9. [Folding stool, Egyptian, ca. 1550–1500 B.C., The Metropolitan Museum of Art Journal v. 38 (2003)](https://resources.metmuseum.org/resources/metpublications/pdf/Campeche_Chair_in_The_Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art_The_Metropolitan_Museum_Journal_v_38_2003.pdf)
10. [Thrones Are No Game: A Brief History of Chairs and Power, TIME](https://time.com/4292353/game-of-thrones-vs-real-thrones/)
11. [Chair (Sgabello), The Metropolitan Museum of Art](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/196580)
12. [Chairs, Röhsska Museum](https://rohsska.se/en/chairs/)
13. [Chairs – late 1800s, The Design Museum](https://designmuseum.org/design/chairs-late-1800s)
14. [Chair Collection, Wycombe Museum](https://wycombemuseum.org.uk/chairs)
15. [Furniture – The Work of Charles and Ray Eames: A Legacy of Invention, Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/eames/furniture.html)
16. [How Charles and Ray Eames combined problem solving with humour and playfulness, Wallpaper*](https://www.wallpaper.com/design-interiors/charles-ray-eames-furniture-design-definitive-guide)
17. [How Hans J Wegner became the 'king of chairs', Wallpaper*](https://www.wallpaper.com/design-interiors/how-hans-j-wegner-became-the-king-of-chairs)
18. [The Viennese Modern Movement, Möbelmuseum Wien](https://www.moebelmuseumwien.at/en/about-the-museum/the-collections/the-viennese-modern-movement)
19. [eTools: Computer Workstations – Chairs, Occupational Safety and Health Administration](https://www.osha.gov/etools/computer-workstations/components/chairs/)
20. [Yes, you can sit on this balloon chair, Wallpaper*](https://www.wallpaper.com/design-interiors/seungjin-yang-profile)
21. [Van Niekerk, S.-M. et al. (2012). The effectiveness of a chair intervention in the workplace to reduce musculoskeletal symptoms. BMC Musculoskelet Disord.](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3552974/)
22. [Chair Times: A History of Seating – From 1800 to Today, Vitra](https://www.vitra.com/en-un/magazine/details/chair-times)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Technology and the built world › Communications and everyday technology › Household appliances and domestic equipment › Titles Le to W*
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