1000 Chairs

Rating:
Summary: If you're into design, this is your design bible.
Review: '1000 chairs' is an easy, pictorial guide through 20th Century chair-design. The pictures are very professional, and they all have short texts to briefly explain the significance and context of that particular chair. The chairs are placed in the order of which they were made, which allows you to understand and see the style of that period. The book also shows you how significant CHAIR design is in the world of design and architecture, as that is where styles most commonly makes its first appearance. As a design student, '1000 chairs' has been invaluable in my understanding of designs and period styles, as well as a great introduction to designers/architects and their personal styles. The book has become a good and helpful friend, and there is nothing about the book I feel is missing or shouldn't be there. I don't know where I would have been without it!

Rating:
Summary: A very useful resource
Review: As a graphic designer who explores industrial design with great interest, I bought this book when as soon as I saw it. I couldn't check it out thoroughly because it was wrapped. but the photography looked pretty good on the covers. Obviously this is a great resource for designers to go back to and see how one of the most influential pieces of furniture - the chair, developed throughout the ages, throughout the different design/art movements and revolutions. You get a good sense of the progression and this book covers a lot of designers I haven't heard of before, so it's really good to see the wide array of the designs, even though a lot of those designs are not nearly as good as other more known designers like Marcel Breuer, Marc Newson, Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe which the book also covers but I guess that's being fair.

As far as readabiltiy and design of the book, it could've been a lot better. Most of the photography featured in the book usually features a gradient lighting scene for the background of the chairs, which tremendously detracts from the design/formal value of the chairs - very distracting. One would appreciate the design and form so much more if these chairs were cropped out or were on a solid plane like they are on the cover. The book is also in three different languages, a little bit excessive and it does hinder the readablity, obviously covering three languages it cannot a significant amount of information to each chair.

I did however find this book very helpful for the developmental process of chairs throughout history and also being able to relate development styles/designers to each other. The end of the book also features little info on each designer. Definitely worth getting if your'e interested in industrial/furniture design.

Rating:
Summary: Great book. A beginning modern dealer's must!
Review: I cant stress enough how often i use this book to refer to as a modern furniture dealer. Very informative. Great color pictures,information on manufacturers,designers,re-issues, licenses,etc/ from Thonet to Starck. Kudos to Charlotte & peter Fiell!!

Rating:
Summary: 1000 Chairs
Review: It is a great coffee table book that covers almost 200 years of chair design. As with many other books in the Taschen series, it is written in English, German, and French on each page. The book begins with an introduction about the form and function that must be included in chair design. After this, there is a picture of the chair, a description, the designer's name, the year, and some other miscellaneous information. Many of the designers are architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Antonio Gaudi i Cornet. It is very inspirational to interior and industrial designers and architects. This is a great book just to skim through.

Rating:
Summary: Timely, Engaging, Real, Necessary, Important
Review: Not long ago I walked into a large trade book store to buy a gift. This store had thousands of titles. I chose this book as the gift. This is an existential book and actually belongs on your coffee table.

Rating:
Summary: 1000 chairs
Review: Read through this book, let me know how great is the designer is. In fact, i'm not so familar to the chair. i started to learn how to appreciate those design.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This book has pictures of 1000 different kinds of chairs and is a great resource. It has adequate information about Eames chairs which have become known worldwide. It has many other kinds of chairs including some very exotic chairs.

Rating:
Summary: 1000 chairs
Review: This is a very informative reference book on chairs. The introduction summarises succinctly the significance of chairs in our day to day life. It's not only something that we could sit on. The book is conveyed in 3 different languages, illustrated with mixtures of colour & B&W pictures. Biographies of the designers & manufacturers' information come in rather handy indeed. Brief descriptions of chairs are useful at times but then again, I'm finding the descriptions too brief for my full understanding. If the book is too technical, this would turn off general public who merely want to have a general overview on designer or lifestyle chairs. The book was published in 1997 & needless to say, more new chairs would have come out by now. Then again, I'm not complaining considering that almost all modern classics chairs are included. I think it's quite risky to try to squeeze too much information into one book. Having said that, this book deserves a spot on my coffee-table for being a well presented book (as we expect of Taschen) & as a good talking point.

Rating:
Summary: a small book with big content
Review: This is a very informative reference book on chairs. The introduction summarises succinctly the significance of chairs in our day to day life. It's not only something that we could sit on. The book is conveyed in 3 different languages, illustrated with mixtures of colour & B&W pictures. Biographies of the designers & manufacturers' information come in rather handy indeed. Brief descriptions of chairs are useful at times but then again, I'm finding the descriptions too brief for my full understanding. If the book is too technical, this would turn off general public who merely want to have a general overview on designer or lifestyle chairs. The book was published in 1997 & needless to say, more new chairs would have come out by now. Then again, I'm not complaining considering that almost all modern classics chairs are included. I think it's quite risky to try to squeeze too much information into one book. Having said that, this book deserves a spot on my coffee-table for being a well presented book (as we expect of Taschen) & as a good talking point.

Rating:
Summary: Needs to include more Dunbar and Edward Wormley
Review: Very good overview.. wish they would have spent more time on mid-century modern leaders like Edward Wormley of Dunbar fame.

Those in the know -- seek out Wormley for a clear viewpoint on the essence of modern design.

Turn up the stereo and pass me a martini...