Nowadays the plastic chair is undeniably part of our lives and its use is widespread at a global level, in the most variegated contexts. Its birth, anyway, coincided with a particular moment for the furnishing industry, and this made it a symbol, object of different and contentious opinions. The Vitra Design Museum organized an exhibition entitled Monobloc – a chair for the world, dedicated to this mythic article and retracing its history since the first attempts of realizations.  

In the 50ies, times of great experimentations, the most important names of design aimed to make a chair out of a unique piece of material, with no junctures or mechanisms. Different tries made with wood and metal resulted fruitless, but the advent of plastic marked the turning point, thanks to its ductility, the relative ergonomics and the possibility offered gave to fasten the working processes.  

The plastic chair boasted characteristics that were innovative for the time, like the lightness, the freedom in terms of colors and shapes, and most of all the affordability, which earned it the name of “democratic piece furniture”. The first examples have been the now iconic Panton Chair, by Verner Panton, and Selene, by Vico Magistretti.

 

Despite the immediate and durable success, during the years there were also criticisms. Someone denounced the non-respect of sustainability criteria, due to the low durability that accompanied the low cost. Someone held it up like the symbol of consumerism, but this did not impede the plastic chair from imposing like an indispensable presence in the houses and public places of the whole world.

An example of the innumerable variations appeared over time is the Tip Ton chair, by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, whose rocking structure helps to maintain a correct posture.

Little Albert by Moroso and Modesty Veiled by Driade, in the originality of their shapes, reflect a strong personality and give proof of the freedom of expression given by this object. 

Even more capricious is Fabio Novembre’s version, reproducing in its Him and Her the shapes of the human body. Louis Ghost by Philippe Stark, instead, is a revolutionary reinterpretation of the classic Louis XIV. 

Finally, the Vegetal chair by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec is inspired to the sculptures realized with the pruning. Its structure in fact is similar to some twisted branches. It is available in a wide variety of colors. 

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