Chair design by Perkriz

In the beginning, most chairs were made of wood. The nature of wood and wood-working techniques dictated the basic shape of chairs. Over centuries, some chairs and seats evolved which were elegant, practical, and extremely well suited to the human body. In this century, furniture design has changed more radically than at any other time in history. New materials and manufacturing processes have allowed new designs which have not evolved naturally, and are not well adapted to the body. Instead, humans are adapting to the chairs.

At the same time, our lifestyles have changed and many of us now spend large amounts of our lives sitting down. This unnatural lifestyle has lead to a deterioration in posture and physical strength and many people now habitually slump. Chairs and seats are built to fit this collapsed posture. But these seats force you to slump and make the situation worse. If you always slump, you will find these seats comfortable - until you develop back trouble. This has lead to confusion about what good sitting posture is.

Although more attention is paid to design and ergonomics than ever before, the combination of shapes based on new technologies, and confusion about natural posture, has resulted in new, experimental seats which have not been used and tested over long periods of time. Yet, these new seats are everywhere, in the home, in public transport, in public buildings. And these seats are contributing to the problem of poor posture and back trouble.

Other Article