The A350 chair
While originally intended for technological applications, the affordability and versatility of plastics led to their use in home furnishings and their eventual integration into the living environment. The phenomenon of plastic furniture is a fascinating subject; the introduction, development, and forms that exemplify the use of synthetics in home furnishings span international boundaries and cover many years. The innovations of American designers and manufacturers played a vital role in the history of plastic furniture, resulting in stunning organic designs that remain classics today.
In style and construction, plastics were not yet embraced for their own qualities. Plastic goods had a limited audience and appeal as there was no mass-marketing of plastics to the general public. Above all, there existed a stigma about synthetic materials as inferior. In his book Pop Design: Modernism to Mod, Nigel Whiteley states “plastic had overtones of inferiority and cheapness since the 1930s when plastic was often used to stimulate more popular or expensive materials.”1 This was perhaps the most significant hurdle for plastics to overcome, as the consumer's attitude had to change before plastics could appear in the home.
A major step forward occurred in 1940 when the Department of Industrial Design of the Museum of Modern Art held the Organic Design in Home Furnishings competition. The original idea came from Bloomingdale's department store as a source for new, up-to-date home furnishings.2 Furniture factories and dealers sponsored the competition and offered winners prize money and contracts with major manufacturers. First prize was awarded to the American team of Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen for the A350; a shell chair made of resin-bonded plywood.
Despite having the winning entry, Eames and Saarinen fell short of their goal to design a chair of organic form in which all parts blend into a single unit using a single material. Theoretically their three-dimensional approach to plywood made it possible to create a chair's seat, back, and arms in one piece. In reality the bent plywood shell was not strong enough to support a sitter's weight. Eames found a solution by dividing the components into simpler parts and then joining the curved seat to the back with metal brackets. These were hidden under foam rubber and fabric upholstery to create a seamless appearance. The prototype was unsuited to mass-production techniques, and America's entry into World War II postponed any further development.
In style and construction, plastics were not yet embraced for their own qualities. Plastic goods had a limited audience and appeal as there was no mass-marketing of plastics to the general public. Above all, there existed a stigma about synthetic materials as inferior. In his book Pop Design: Modernism to Mod, Nigel Whiteley states “plastic had overtones of inferiority and cheapness since the 1930s when plastic was often used to stimulate more popular or expensive materials.”1 This was perhaps the most significant hurdle for plastics to overcome, as the consumer's attitude had to change before plastics could appear in the home.
A major step forward occurred in 1940 when the Department of Industrial Design of the Museum of Modern Art held the Organic Design in Home Furnishings competition. The original idea came from Bloomingdale's department store as a source for new, up-to-date home furnishings.2 Furniture factories and dealers sponsored the competition and offered winners prize money and contracts with major manufacturers. First prize was awarded to the American team of Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen for the A350; a shell chair made of resin-bonded plywood.
Despite having the winning entry, Eames and Saarinen fell short of their goal to design a chair of organic form in which all parts blend into a single unit using a single material. Theoretically their three-dimensional approach to plywood made it possible to create a chair's seat, back, and arms in one piece. In reality the bent plywood shell was not strong enough to support a sitter's weight. Eames found a solution by dividing the components into simpler parts and then joining the curved seat to the back with metal brackets. These were hidden under foam rubber and fabric upholstery to create a seamless appearance. The prototype was unsuited to mass-production techniques, and America's entry into World War II postponed any further development.
Eames' La Chaise chair
In the years following World War II mass production of furniture in the United States grew rapidly. There was an increase in the standard of living as functional necessities were gradually replaced by luxury items. The new ground plans of houses contributed to bringing about changes in the layout and style as domestic interiors became smaller, and furniture followed in scale. Noting the growing affluence of American consumers and the need for furniture that fit within the new post-war home, the Museum of Modern Art held the International Competition for Low-Cost Furniture Design. The 1948 contest resulted in “furniture design intended for mass production, with simple, uncomplicated shapes, on a scale suited to the smaller postwar living spaces.”3 Charles and Ray Eames won second place in the seating category for their La Chaise chair. Produced using fiberglass molds, the chair's fluid forms are abstract and forward-looking. Once again, however, the design proved too expensive to mass produce. While the La Chaise design would never reach the consumer, its design is an indication of the direction modern furniture design was headed.
Advertisement for Formica laminates
Impressed by the possibilities demonstrated by both the Organic Design in Home Furnishings and the Low-Cost Furniture Design competitions, magazines and trade journals began to imagine the home of the future. This speculating resulted in elaborate predictions of a utopian society where everything is plastic. Consumers, however, were more reluctant to fill their homes with plastics. The earliest and most consistently successful use of plastics in the home was with laminates that could imitate traditional materials. Sparke notes that “with their sugary colors and fake wood, brick or wicker squiggles [plastic laminates] have become part of the mass urban scene.”4 Formica was the most popular commercial brand, owing its success to the repackaging of the ‘dream kitchen' as a world of convenience, durability, and price. The ease of “damp cloth cleaning” was touted in all the women's magazines along with claims of plastics being scratch resistant, fade resistant, and easy to maintain. Meikle states that plastics entered the home in a way no one had imagined:
As plastic utopians had predicted, synthetic materials did invade the American home after the war, but in the guise of traditional materials. Vinyl floor tiles and upholstery masqueraded as ceramic and leather. Wood-grained Formica protected table tops, desks, and wall surfaces. Rayon draperies and lamp shades of cellulose acetate appeared strange only on close examination.5
Imitations, especially of wood, became commonplace in the American home. The success and appeal of wood is culturally significant. Wood is an organic material that exudes warmth and familiarity. The design of traditional wooden furniture is historically grounded and its appearance is timeless. Based on this appeal and the non-threatening associations of wood, the first plastic furniture was historicizing in both style and appearance. Most reproductions featured high relief panels and intricate detailing as manufacturers continued to use plastics as a replacement for wooden components in traditional designs. Consumers gravitated toward styles that were historically affluent and previously out of reach to the middle class. While the versatility of plastics allowed them to express either tradition or modernity, consumers clearly favored non-threatening traditional forms.
As plastic utopians had predicted, synthetic materials did invade the American home after the war, but in the guise of traditional materials. Vinyl floor tiles and upholstery masqueraded as ceramic and leather. Wood-grained Formica protected table tops, desks, and wall surfaces. Rayon draperies and lamp shades of cellulose acetate appeared strange only on close examination.5
Imitations, especially of wood, became commonplace in the American home. The success and appeal of wood is culturally significant. Wood is an organic material that exudes warmth and familiarity. The design of traditional wooden furniture is historically grounded and its appearance is timeless. Based on this appeal and the non-threatening associations of wood, the first plastic furniture was historicizing in both style and appearance. Most reproductions featured high relief panels and intricate detailing as manufacturers continued to use plastics as a replacement for wooden components in traditional designs. Consumers gravitated toward styles that were historically affluent and previously out of reach to the middle class. While the versatility of plastics allowed them to express either tradition or modernity, consumers clearly favored non-threatening traditional forms.
Saarinen's Tulip chair
Both Saarinen and Eames' chairs were the first plastic shell chairs to be mass-produced and successfully marketed and remain in production today. They represent a successful marriage of function and aesthetics by being comfortable while retaining their sculptural qualities. Finally, by the end of the 1950s, plastics had found a style of their own. This would lead Time magazine to state that “plastic furniture – no longer disguised as wood but blatantly and unashamedly plastic-looking – is now showing up in homes all over the United States.”6 It seems that by the start of the 1960s nearly all organic or natural materials had found their equivalent in plastics. As metal and wood became more expensive, the public held the belief that plastics were universal materials that seemed infinitely available. The new wave of plastic designs exhibited extreme organic shapes that pushed the designer's imagination. This progress continued throughout the 1950s and 1960s and culminated in objects such as Saarinen's Tulip chairs. These forms, says Lucie-Smith, “cast aside any hint of the old alliance with craft – they are pure statements of form, born from the designer's brain and the capabilities of the machine.”7
- Whiteley, Nigel. Pop Design: Modernism to Mod. London: The Design Council, 1987.
- Sembach, Klaus Jurgen. Twentieth-Century Furniture Design. Cologne: Taschen, 2002, pg 165.
- Fiell, Charlotte and Peter Fiell. Modern Furniture Classics: Postwar to Post-Modernism. London: Thames & Hudson, 1991, pg 21.
- Sparke, Penny. The Plastics Age: From Bakelite to Beanbags and Beyond. Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 1993, pg 129.
- Meikle, Jeffrey L. American Plastic: A Cultural History. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1995, pg 171.
- “The Furniture of Chemistry.” Time Magazine 25 October 1971.
- Lucie-Smith, Edward. Furniture: A Concise History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979, pg 189.
