Designers in pursuit of the hot seat

Some of the best efforts are now on display in Barnsley and it's a fascinating collection that illustrates the history of modern design and technologies.

It starts in the early 1900s with Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Scotland and Austrians Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser, who experimented with geometric forms and monochrome palettes.

After the First World War the "machine age" gave us new man-made materials and production techniques and saw Marcel Breuer, Mies Van Der Rohe and Le Corbusier using tubular steel and Dutch architect Mart Stam creating the first cantilevered chair.

The 1930s brought new ways with wood after research into bending and moulding plywood and laminates, while the Forties and Fifties gave us American design idols Charles and Ray Eames.

They championed the mass-production of affordable, comfortable, stackable chairs and their LCW (Lounge Chair Wood) is still in production, as is Charles Eames' much-coveted Lounge chair.

Moulded plastic chairs by Verner Panton and Joe Columbo define the 1960s and the flamboyant Memphis movement in Italy shook up the 1980s and was a major influence on Philippe Starck.

But for the past 20 years, chair designers seems to have looked to the past for their inspiration, says Judith Miller. Judith, a respected authority on design and antiques and author of Chairs, says, "What a lot of contemporary designers do is take something that was made in the past and make it more modern.

"That's not a bad thing at all. I love Tom Dixon's twist on the 18th century wing chair."

Wingback is one of the 100 chairs featured in her book and it is lucky to be there. "I started with a list of 600 of my favourites and cutting it down to just over 100 was terrifically difficult," says Judith. Some of her choices are pure sculpture, while others are comfy and durable.

"Some chairs in the book aren't that comfortable, they just look beautiful or act a piece of sculpture. Le Corbusier's chaise longue is probably in that category. It looks great and sitting in it is fine, but getting out of it is very tricky."

Terence Conran, in the foreword to Judith's book, says that uncomfortable chairs are a sign of unintelligent design. "To me a good chair must be elegant and beautiful to look at, easy to move, well made, comfortable to sit in, good for your posture, affordable and durable."

Or you may empathise with Homer Simpson, who once said: "Marge, there's an empty spot I've always had inside me. I tried to fill it with family, religion, community service but those were dead ends. I think this chair is the answer."

A Century of Chairs is at at The Gallery at The Civic, Hanson Street, Barnsley until March 12. Tel: 01226 327000, www.barnsleycivic.co.uk

Chairs by Judith Miller (published by Conran Octopus 40). To order a copy from the Yorkshire Post Bookshop, call free on 0800 0153232 or go online at www.yorkshirepostbookshop.co.uk. P&P is 2.75.

Our favourite chairs:

Judith Miller

She is a self-confessed single chair addict and says: "I adore chairs and I've got an odd mix including 18th century and 20th century. My George II chair is next to Philippe Starck's Lord Yo designed in 1994. They're both beautiful designs but when you put them together in the same room the contrast makes them look outstanding."

In the kitchen she has Arne Jacobsen's Series 7 designed in 1955. "It is user-friendly, stackable with a simple curvaceous shape. Its gently concave, moulded plywood seat makes it as comfortable as any chair you will sit in. Relatively light and of solid construction, it is available in a vast array of colours. In short, it is an almost flawless design."

She observes that female chair designers are still thin on the ground, but Brazilian Julia Krantz is in that minority and Judith loves her work. "She is an emerging designer with considerable talent. Her Poltrona Suave (meaning smooth armchair) encapsulates all of the qualities that make her furniture exceptional."

Robin Silver

He is passionate about good design and is co-owner of The Home, Salts Mill, Saltaire (www.thehomeonline.co.uk). His favourites chairs include:

The Desile Indoor Folding Chair designed by Christian Desile 2009.

Robin describes it as "nifty", and says: "It folds up flat and is only 2cm thick. It is made from bamboo and is reversible. It can be left natural in bamboo or it can also be finished with a laminate on each side so that you have two colour ways for the price of one chair."

Chair – No. 65 designed by by Alvar Aalto in1935.

"One of very few dining chairs that give adequate lumbar support yet can be tucked out of the way under most dining tables. It features Aalto's distinctive "L" leg which is made from solid birch wood that is spliced and steam bent."

The Tube chair designed by Joe Colombo in 1965.

"This epitomises the extraordinary era of Italian and world-leading design. Here Colombo uses what were new materials in a completely new way yet retains an elegance and domestic scale. The tubes can be stored inside each other allowing compact storage and easy handling in an age where "moving on" was happening all the time."

Lounge Chair designed by Charles Eames in 1956.

"Simply the most comfortable chair around and suitable for people of all shapes and heights."

It was first made for Eames's friend, the Hollywood director, Billy Wilder, who wanted something for his office that no one could claim was a "casting couch".

Patricia Silver

She is a design enthusiast and co-owner of The Home, Salts Mill, Saltaire. Her favourites include:

La Chaise designed by Charles & Ray Eames, 1948.

Patricia says: "Entered in a competition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, this chair was inspired by Floating Figure (a sculpture by Gaston Lachaise). This is a very versatile piece of furniture, which allows various seating or reclining positions for one or even two people. Despite having a hard shell, it's a 'soft sit' and is amazingly practical as it can be wiped down."

Womb Chair and footstool designed by Eero Saarinen in 1948.

"Made of foam over reinforced moulded fibreglass with upholstery, this chair is luxuriously comfortable and allows any sitter to curl up and relax as if returning to the safety of the womb: hence the name. The footstool is made of foam over moulded plywood."

Diamond chair designed by Harry Bertoia in 1952.

"The structure and the materials from which it is constructed are clearly visible which helps to make this chair so intriguing. Remarkably, this is very comfortable when used both as an armchair or a dining chair. Although part of a ground-breaking and long-lived collection of chairs that the artist and sculptor made for Knoll Int, these chairs are the only furniture designs that he made. Whether these chairs are sculptures or pieces of furniture will be debated for many years to come but their importance as designs that have inspired subsequent generations remains indisputable."

David Sinclair

The exhibitions coordinator at The Gallery@ The Civic, Barnsley, which is hosting the Century of Chairs exhibition, lists The Lounge Chair and Ottoman designed by Charles Eames in 1956: "This chair is such a beautiful thing. The original is made from rosewood and black leather and it costs a fortune. I didn't buy it, but Charles Eames is so popular now, I should have invested in it years ago. Prices are going up all the time. It has a premium because it's made from rosewood and they can't use that anymore because of conservation.

"I'd always seen this design in books and thought it was a big Seventies executive recliner, but when you see it in the flesh it's actually quite small and a post-war design. You could eat your dinner off that footstool, or stack it up with newspapers on a Sunday. It's all you need in a room."

The Ant chair designed by Arne Jacobson in 1951.

"I'm a big fan of Arne Jacobson, he's one of my heroes. The Ant is made from chrome and bent plywood with a beech veneer and it costs 150. I like the shape and the simplicity. It's very light and it's very clever. I'd seen the design in museums many times and I thought how wonderful that it was still available. It was very innovative for its time, especially as it has only three legs."

The Panton Chair designed by Verner Panton in 1968.

"I love this chair so much, I had to have a set around my dining table. They are so comfortable, sexy, sleek and a technical first – as the first cantilevered chair to be made from a single piece of plastic.

"The Panton Chair epitomises the optimism of the 1960s and was inspired by the sight of a pile of plastic buckets stacked neatly on top of each other. When it was finally unveiled in the Danish design journal Mobilia in August 1967, it caused a sensation. Equally memorable was its appearance as a prop in a 1970 issue of Nova, the British fashion magazine, in a fashion shoot entitled 'How to undress in front of your husband'."