Chairs, the history of the Chair
The master creations that have marked the history of design
The first edition of the Madrid Design Festival at the Madrid College of Architects (COAM) was the setting chosen by Andreu World and Editorial Gustavo Gili to present Chairs, a book that reviews the designs that have marked the history of design and, at the same time, of humanity. Over the course of its 16 chapters, its author, Anatxu Zabalbeascoa, invites us on a stroll amongst the chairs of the industrial era, such as the famous Thonet chairs, the manifesto-chairs like those of Gerrit Rietveld or Mies van der Rohe, or the chairs of postmodern technological and formalist ostentation, where names like those of Frank O. Gehry, Philippe Starck or Jasper Morrison stand out.
Chairs is a book on the universal history of the chair, written by journalist and historian, Anatxu Zabalbeascoa, and published by Editorial Gustavo Gili.
It starts with a foreword by researcher Jorge Wagensberg on the concept of the seat, in which he provides an overview of the great milestones of historical chairs and finally focuses on the world of the modern chair and the successive approaches that have given it meaning.
The origin of this publication goes back to the book that Andreu World published in 2007 on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, entitled Chairs: 50 years of design and a story to tell, in which one of its chapters reviewed the history of the chair, from its origins up to the present day. The passage of time not only confirmed its validity, but we thought it made sense to expand the content so that it could become this book, of a different, more informative nature, about the universal history of the chair, now published by Editorial Gustavo Gili. Its author is the journalist and art historian Anatxu Zabalbeascoa, who wrote the text for the previous edition and has now expanded and updated it in this new edition, which has also been edited by Ramón Úbeda.
For the launching of the book, Andreu World also presented an exhibition of its most iconic designs at the headquarters of the Madrid College of Architects.
