History and evolution of the chair in the documentary 'Chair Time'

Vitra presents Chair Time, a documentary dedicated to the history of the chair, its stylistic, design and production evolution. Through 125 seats from the collection exhibited in the Vitra Design Museum in Basel, director Heinz Bütler takes us on a journey from 1807 to today. 

Chairs are important witnesses of their time, said Rolf Fehlbaum, Chairman Emeritus of the Swiss company and speaker of the video. This is true regardless of whether they express the fashion of a momentary trend or represent an epochal idea. They are portraits of their users and reflections of the production methods from which they emerge. Thus we are able to perceive and comprehend an era – its social organization, its materials and technology, its aesthetic tastes – by observing its chairs. I would even claim that chairs are more multifaceted than any other everyday object. 

The voices of collectors and some of the greatest personalities in the world of design and architecture such as David Chipperfield, Antonio Citterio and Ronan Bouroullec explain the close relationship between the chairs and the periods during which they were produced, creating a timeline that goes from craftsmanship to the latest innovations in 3D printing.

The documentary starts in 1825 with the cast iron garden chair by the Prussian architect and urban designer Karl Friedrich Schinkel, who used the cast iron process of the late 18th century industrialization to make furniture more rational and inspired the Barcelona armchair by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
There are many interesting facts. We discover, for example, that the Eames plywood chairs were produced after the designer, who was experimenting with plywood bending techniques at the time, was commissioned by the Navy during the Second World War to create lightweight, easy-to-move slats. 

Chair Times is available free online on Vitra's website and on YouTube.