Functionalist Chairs Through Materials

Functionalism - “the notion that objects made to be used should be simple, honest, and direct; well adapted to their purpose; bare of ornament; standardized; machine-made, and reasonably priced; and expressive of their structure and materials - has defined the course of progressive design for most of the century.” (George Marcus, Functionalism, 1995, p.9.)

Throughout the history of functionalist design, there were always some innovative designers who tried to integrate new materials and new processes to their designs. Each of the chair designs I have selected for my timeline have unique forms because they were influenced by the functionalist approach. The designers carefully investigated the characteristic of the materials they were dealing with and how it could be manufactured. This functionalist approach leaded to simple but brilliant designs where “form follows function”. All the chairs below demonstrate the investigation of the designers to create a chair that is cheap and easy to be manufactured while taking nothing away from the function of the chair itself. Today, there are so many new materials and new processes which make me wonder how I can apply them in my designs to make something simple, unique and functional.



1859 - The Thonet No.14 by Michael Thonet
The design of the chair is focused on its functionality and mass-production. It is bare of ornament and made out of 6 pieces of steam-bent wood which could easily be taken apart similarly to IKEA furniture we have today. The natural characteristics of the material enabled this simple design. By 1930, over 50 million units of this famous design were sold.

1928- Cantilever Chair by Marcel Breuer
Marcel Breuer made use of “steel tubing” to come up with a functionalist design in his “Cantilever Chair”. The form language of the chair is truly inspired by functionalism; it is geared towards manufacturability and expresses the characteristics and the structure of the material. It is a timeless design.










1986 – The Panton Chair by Verner Panton
The Panton chair is made from a single polypropylene shape. Danish designer Verner Panton pushed the limits of the material and struggled with ways of constructing this chair since 1950s. This simple and unique design is a classic award winning modern chair which caused a sensation when it was finally unveiled in 1968.








1968 - The Blow Chair by de Pas, d'Urbino, lomazzi & Scolari
This first mass produced inflatable chair made a statement about designing with new materials out there by using transparent PVC and a new technology.Eventhough it doesn’t look like a conventional chair it is well adapted to its purpose; it is light, cheap and easy to mass produce.











1999 – Air Chair by Jasper Morrison
The Air Chair is a brilliantly simple design made out of one piece, gas injected polypropylene chair. It is not only light and strong but thanks to its advanced manufacturing techniques it is mass-affordable too. This is one of the most recent designs that make use of the functionalism notion in every aspect of the design.