INTRODUCTION

First furniture was made spontaneously by nature (a trunk of trees felled by wind served as a place to
sit, flat stone blocks as base for performing and soft moss/woolen skins as bed)

The spontaneously made furniture was replaced by ARTEFACTS.

New furniture was developed for specific functions (to sit, lie down, for work, dining, storage and other
uses)

The remaining furniture construction from the first dynasty of ancient Egypt is accepted as the
beginning of the history of furniture (3100-2800 BC)

Evidence of manufacturing and using furniture from the late Paleolithic and early Neolithic period exist
as well.

FURNITURE OF THE ANCIENT TIMES

Neolithic village of SKARA BRAE

(western coast of Orkney, Great Britain 3200 BC)
Furniture found: wardrobe, beds, cupboards all made of stone

Historically, the most common used material for manufacturing furniture is WOOD.
*in steppe terrains also stone, metal and animal bones (esp. mammoth) were used

The style and form of furniture evolved much more quickly than other forms of architecture.

Tables and chairs used by Egyptian workers in 2800 BC looked and were used identically as chairs of
workers in 1800 of the Finnish peasants (agricultural worker) from the region of Yamsakoski.
ANTIQUE FURNITURE
FURNITURE OF ANCIENT EGYPT
Egyptians used many techniques for decorating furniture
Egyptian carpenters used the wood of ebony, cedar, yew, acacia, olive, and oak
Common method for finishing furniture surfaces: gold plating and ivory incrustation
Legs of furniture were made in shape of animal paws.

Oldest known Egyptian bed:

-horizontal wooden frame resting
on 4 thick and massive bull legs
carved in ivory
-no headrest, but wooden board
placed on the side of the feet
(footrests)
-legs in shape of lion paws were
usually directed to the head.

Tutankhamun’s throne (1325 BC) Folding chair

Richly decorated with gold, silver, semi-
precious stone and colored glass paste
found in Tutankhamun’s tomb, transformed
from a stool by adding a backrest. Made
from ebony wood with irregular
incrustations of ivory, imitating skin of
leopard; legs shaped as duck heads.
FURNITURE OF ANCIENT GREECE

Diphros stool: relatively low, without beck rest, straight turned in legs in shape of a stick, placed
perpendicular to the ground

Klismos chair: made from wooden curved slats obtained by plastic working and bending wood, as well
as cutting elements from trees of a large naturally shaped curve
FURNITURE OF ANCIENT ROME
Roman furniture practical - adapting all useful aesthetic, structural and organizational solutions of the
people of the conquered countries

Furniture designed for sitting was known under the generic name SELLA,
a chair with armrests was called KATHEDRA

KURULNE (SELLA CURULIS): furniture that emphasized power

Structure in form of a stool without backrest, with legs bent and crossed and a pillow placed on the seat

Initially, chairs and stools were made of wood and metal incrusted with ivory, later also decorated with
gold.

Solium chair
Representative chair, seat of honor of the
man of the house or throne of head of State
The seat is supported by two Sphinxes,
which wings are raised up high forming
armrests.
FURNITURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES
A characteristic feature of furniture of the Middle Ages was the widespread use of wood turning
techniques for legs, backrests, cases and connectors.

Throne of King Dagobert

(King of Austrasia, all Franks, Neustria and
Burgundy 7th century)

A symbol of influence of the antiquity of

Byzantine work

ROMANESQUE PERIOD
Structures were massive, oversized with large sections of elements, often turned and carved.
At the time, in north Europe mostly oak wood was used, whilst the south used coniferous wood.
Furniture for storage, (especially the Gothic chests with backrests and armrests) began to serve as seats,
ex. typical stalla in churches

RENAISSANCE PERIOD
ITALY – They ceased to be (stopped being) exclusively object of common use and transformed into
works of applied art as attractive as sculptures and paintings

Chest as distinctive piece of furniture; in the 15th century widely decorated with cornices, pilasters and
plinths (side walls with pilasters or flattened consoles, top was closed with flat top with cornices)

French armchair
Renaissance accomplishment
chair with armrest, backrest and seat in
shape of trapezium, lightweight
BAROQUE FURNITURE
Most characteristic furniture of this period was the furniture of Louis XIV

Armchair
Heavy padded armchair with a
high obliquely set backrest and S-
shaped, bent armrest.
Seat tapestry made of velvet,
embroidered fabric, gobelin, and
extruded and gilded leather.

New types of furniture appeared during the reign of Louis XIV:

chest of drawers (replacing the chest, complemented with tall cupboards in function), desk, dining table,
console tables, table clocks, cabinet clocks, base tables for vases.

Beds were placed in alcoves (udubljenje u zidu) separated by a balustrade or columns from the rest of
the room. They were covered with canopies, and decorated with feathers on the corners. The wooden
frame of the bed was covered with fabrics completely.

ROCOCO FURNITURE
Characteristic furniture finishing with black and red lacquer, imitating Chinese techniques.
Lot of effort and creative passion given into the aesthetics and comfort of furniture for sitting.
During this period, French furniture did not have flat surfaces and straight lines, cubic case furniture was
therefore enlivened with profiles narrowing downwards, curved legs and surfaces of hatches, doors and
side walls.
Around 1725 Chippendale provides final shape for backrest. The transformation was in an openwork
forming of backrest panel to the form of a ribbon ornament which gave the piece of furniture
LIGHTNESS that is fundamental value of rococo.

Chippendale chair
-curved legs finished with animal
paws embracing a sphere
-straight or slightly curved becks
-openwork backrest in
rectangular frame, straight side
posts, slightly curve upper joints.
CLASSICAL FURNITURE
Structures were significantly simplified, replacing curved lines with straight elements.

Chippendale chair
-connection of cases and legs strongly
emphasized by cuboid cube, usually decorated
with sculpted rosette
- concave backrest in shape of medallion or
openwork lyres

-seats finished with goblen fabric

In England, Robert Adam, George Hepplewhite and Thomas Sheraton had great impact on evolution of
furniture design.

Sheraton backrests
-rectangle with vertical lines
- most common motif three overlapping sharply
finished ovals/palm leaves set into the oval.

EMPIRE FURNITURE
French empire caused the creation of new cabinets and bookcases.

Tables were made in different variations and sizes. The legs of an empire table usually have the form of
columns, human and animal figures and structures based on Roman models including winged female
figure emerging from a lion leg.

Luxury beds were mostly built on a podium along with a magnificent canopy with gold drapes.

BIDERMEIRE FURNITURE
Characterized by solid built, choice of appropriate raw material and a design that meets the requirement
of users. It is very similar, simplified form of furniture manufactured in England at the end of 18th
century. Mostly used wood in design: mahagony, walnut, birch, cherry, pear, elm, ash and oak.
ECLECTIC FURNITURE
Characterized by short-lived trends based on the former historic styles.

In 1841 Thonet made his own-designed furniture and manufactured furniture of curved wood.
In 1849 he began mass production using technique of bending wooden rods (mainly beech wood)

Chair model no.14

-manufactured in more than 45 million copies
within 40 year period

ART NOUVEAU
Characteristic of this period was searching for new, cheap and technological products, especially two
technologies: hot-curving wood and veneering.

EARLY 20TH CENTURY FURNITURE

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1972)- a supporter of modernity based on pure form, functionality and
sophisticated aesthetics. In 1920, he created a series of his most interesting and most beautiful steel
furniture, today considered classic.

Bending freely bending pipe chair

-bent steel pipes, wooden backrest and seat
DESIGN PRINCIPLES
Design principles provide criteria that describe formal intentions.

BALANCE
Visual balance is the spatial weighing of a composition around an axis.
-Symmetry is a form of (visual) balance where a component (or several components) is mirrored along
an axis. It can be expressed bilaterally (around a common axis) or radially (around a common point).
Structural balance involves the physical equilibrium of freestanding elements such as chairs and tables.
-Structural forces inspire design ideas, and are an important consideration in the conception of form.

CONTINUITY, UNITY AND VARIETY

- The wall-mounted wood paneling that

transforms into a sinusoidal bench in
Gunnar Asplund’s chapel expresses
continuity, unity and variety.
- The uninterrupted plane of the
laminated plywood gives continuity, and
the integration of wall and furniture in
material and form gives unity to the
design.

DYNAMISM AND STASIS

Dynamic rocker (expresses movement Stasis expressed in Erik Skoven’s Block stool
in visual and visceral manner) (state of being at rest)
HIERARCHY AND EMPHASIS
Point to priority and relative value in design. Hierarchy and emphasis are achieved through manipulation
of location, color, size, texture, and shape.

JUXTAPOSITION
Juxtaposition is the simultaneous experience of the relationship between contrasting elements or
characteristics.

*Example of juxtaposition: a curvilinear form juxtaposed with an orthogonal shape; a light reflective
surface juxtaposed with a dark matte finish

RHYTHM AND PATTERN

Pattern is the arrangement of elements that determine a whole and are made from points, lines and
shapes.
Rhythm and pattern are codependent, they reveal the underlying structure of form (through physical,
spatial, or temporal compositional order)

SCALE AND PROPORTION

Scale and proportion are dependent on physical and spatial relationships.
Scale is based on the size of one thing relative to another (ex. Size of a sectional sofa in relation to the
size of a room)

SCHEMATICS: SKETCHING, DRAWING, COMPUTER RENDERING AND

MODEL MAKING
Sketching helps designers think visually on paper and consider aspects of form, proportion and detail at
1:1, accurate measurements and materials in the development of a design.

An esquisse sketch is an expression of the basic idea/concept of a design.

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
- Designers refine ideas, formulate general dimensions and materials, resolve the direction of the
work
- Schematic design drawings are developed into measured drawings (by manual drafting or
computer software)
- Decisions regarding size, color selection, proportion, material and visual quality will have been
explored and generally made at the end of this phase

SCALED MODELS
- Show relationships between furnishings and interior space
- Reveal notions of scale, layout, proportion
- Means of studying furniture in its intended spatial context

MOCK-UPS
- Generally made at full size and communicate only partial aspects of design
*the full process of design must include making a prototype, a (nearly) exact version of the
finished/manufactured piece, capable of experiential use and testing.
PREDESIGN, RESEARCH AND PROGRAMMING
Predesign, research and programming phases involve necessary work that designers generally
accomplish before designing a piece of furniture.

Questions that need to be answered in the predesign phase:

Who
Who is in the market for this product?
Who will use this product?
Who will sell or distribute the product?
Who will maintain the product?

What
What is its intended purpose?
What are other things that it might do?
What is the competition?
What functions should be included?
What is the product’s life expectancy?
What is the expected cost for the furniture?

Why
Why is the furniture needed?
Why would someone buy this product?
Why is a new design needed?
Why will the furniture be used?
Why use hand, machine, or digital technology in its fabrication?

When
When will the furniture be used?
When will the product require maintenance?
When will it not have enough capacity?
When will it be stored or moved?

Where
Where will the furniture be located?
Where should it not be located?
Where will it be sold?
Where will its materials come from?
Where will it be fabricated?

How
How does it work?
How is it used?
How many functions will be served?
How well does it relate to all people?
Schematic design
- first phase in the process of designing furniture
- decisions regarding size and form are explored
- sketches are rough study models communicating ideas
- material selection and details generally still unresolved

Professional and disciplinary boundaries

Traditionally, architects and interior designers work to emphasize a ‘sense of place’
(special attention on the selection and location of custom furniture for a specific site, creating spatial,
material and ornamental correlation between the building and its furnishings.)

Industrial designer vs interior designer

Industrial designer is trained to focus on human factors and industrial processes throughout the
development of design. (focus is on mass-produced work)
Interior designers are primarily concerned with selecting furniture for their interior (focus on interior
aesthetics, contextual appropriateness, utility, comfort, form, finish and product availability.)

DESIGN PROCESS
Transformation of ideas into physical form.

Designing furniture: formulating conjectures about form and function, analyzing the efforts and
synthesizing design ideas into a product. (CONJETURE/ANALYSIS/SYNTHESIS method)

DESIGN PHASES
 Predesign, research and programming
 Schematic design
 Design development
 Fabrication drawings
 Pricing and contract negotiation
 Shop drawings, templates and work prototypes
 Fabrication
 Delivery and installation
FORM
Form is influenced by the purposes it serves.
Material selection and fabrication technique will influence form.
*inversely form can also inspire the appropriate use of materials and fabrication process

George Nakashima handcrafted chair inspired Kristian Vedel’s children furniture (interlocking
by natural figure and grain in wood laminated and formed plywood components

Furniture can create personal (private) and communal (public) space.

- Private space is experienced in the MetroNaps pod created by MetroNaps in 2004.
SECTIONAL/MODULAR
Sectional furnishings are arrangements of components that can be organized in various ways. The
components DO NOT HAVE TO be similar or even proportional to one another.

Modular furnishings rely on proportional correlations between components, having repeatable or

geometric correlations between their parts, which may be arranged in a variety of ways.

*Sectional and modular furnishings are inherently flexible, designed as a system of components that can
be assembled, disassembled, and very often reconfigured.

*Shelving systems, office workstations, lounge seating, and storage units are generally sectional or
modular.

ORTHOGONAL
Orthogonal furniture is composed of rectangular geometric forms created by lines, planes, and volumes
positioned at 90 degrees to one another.

*armoires, beds,sofas, buffets

and shelving are often
orthogonal due to their size, cost
of fabrication, and spatial
proximity to a wall.

Baltic birch plywood box chairs

(1991) designed by Donald Judd
are a good example of
orthogonal furniture

COMPOSITE
Furnishings that utilize two or more geometric systems, such as curvilinear and orthogonal, or two or
more distinct materials such as stone and wood in one piece are considered composite.

Marcel Breuer B32 chair Isamu Noguchi coffee table, composite of biomorphic-shaped
wood supports and curvilinear glass top

ANGULAR
Canted, nonorthogonal, and noncurvilinear geometries are referred to as angular.
TYPOLOGICAL ORDERS
Order results from the union of ideas present in the conception and development of design.

ASSEMBLE REQUIRED (Ready-to-Assemble-and-knock-down)

Also known as flat-pack or knock-down furniture, RTA (ready to assemble) furniture is distributed and
sold in an unassembled state and assembled by the consumer. Examples of companies that produce RTA
furniture: IKEA, Artek

BUILT-IN/STATIONARY
When carefully integrated in its surrounding, built-in furniture can enhance the continuity of the
architecture.
The placement of built-in millwork and stationary furnishings are critical in regard to their impact on the
circulation of the surrounding space.

FREESTANDING
Most furnishings are freestanding, but relatively few are designed to be experienced in the round
(because they are often placed against a wall or next to other furniture)
Coat rocks and video shelving units are typically located in corners, while lounge seating, dining,
conference and coffee tables are designed to be experienced from multiple directions.

INFLATABLE
Waterbeds, inflatable air mattresses, therapy balls, and bean bag chairs are internally filled and
externally sheathed.

Inflated furnishings are often designed for temporary uses and can be made compact for easy storage or
transport when required. They can utilize either heat-activated expanding gas or air-activated expanding
foam; depend on rapid inflating and deflating techniques, cellular substructures and integrated
components designed to improve the experience and support of the user.

THE BLOW ARMCHAIR (Jonathan de

Pas Danata d’Urbina, Paolo Lomazzi,
Massimo Scalari, 1967)
-one of the first commercially
produced furniture products
-lightness, transparency and low
price (20$) contributed to the
armchair becoming the icon of the
late 1960’s
MECHANICAL (Transformative pieces)
Folding chairs, butterfly tables, extending draw tables, and transformable cribs can transform from one
state to another. Mechanical joinery allows furniture to transform into different shapes.

The adjustable armchair Wink 111

designed by Toshiyuki Kita in 1980
utilizes an internal system of a
welded steel armature which
enables one to recline close to the
floor or sit upright in a conventional
manner.

Giovanni Socci and Sons, Mechanical study 1820 Alessandro Mendini, Zabro chair/table, 1984

MOVABLE
Movement can enhance the function of furniture.

Alvar Aalto Tea Trolley (1936) Frank Lloyd Wright office chair
SPATIAL ORGANIZATION
Space and form are codependent.
Perception of space is influenced by furniture, material, people, activity, acoustics, and lighting.
Furniture designers should consider the following spatial relationships:
Spatial relationships between people and furniture
Spatial composition of furniture and interior space
Spatial relationship between various components of furniture
Spatial extensions based on the geometries of furniture

CENTRALIZED
Centralized spatial order draws focus toward the center of a space.

Eero Saarinen’s MIT chapel

size, location, orientation, and surface
circulation of these 3 components in
concert with the dynamic effect of
changing daylight reinforce the chapel’s
centralized spatial typology.

CLUSTERED
Clustered arrangements are apparent whenever a group of three or more elements (or axial
orientations) share the same field.

GRIDS
Grids are useful in transferring the order of an underlying spatial organization. Distinction between grids
can vary by measure and/or geometric order.

LINEAR
Lines are made by connecting two or more points and generally are conceived as being straight, but they
also curve, warp, and transform.

RADIAL
Sociofugal spaces are perceived as outward-oriented spaces.
Sociofugal is a term coined by Edward T.Hall to describe the perception of space that radiates outward
from an implied or marked center.
Radial spaces are distinct from inwardly focused, centralized, sociopetal spaces.
MATERIALS
Material invention and use in furniture design parallels the evolution of concepts and design in the
history of furniture design.
The beauty of materials should be integrated with performance, purpose and use.

Characteristics of materials can be QUANTITATIVE (measurable) and QUALITATIVE (perceived through

lenses)

How well materials perform is influenced by many considerations grounded by technical material
properties and descriptive characteristics.

ABSORBTIVE QUALITY
- ability to absorb moisture, oils, and odors.

AGING AND WEATHERING

Climatic and environmental conditions of humidity, moisture, air quality and daylight all have a
significant influence on materials and furniture. Aging processes are evident in a materials decay
(copper, wood and leather develop a patina over time)

COMPRESSIVE AND TENSILE STRENGTH

Compressive strength is the ability of a material to resist compressive forces.
Tensile strength is the ability of a material to resist tensile forces.

Wood performs well in both compression and tension parallel to the grain, but when pulled at a right
angle to the grain it will split. Concrete performs well in compression, but poorly in tension.
Steel has excellent compressive and tensile strength.

DENSITY
Density is the weight of a material relative to its volume or mass.
Paper is lightweight

DIMENSIONAL MOVEMENT
All wood species shrink upon drying and expand when the cells hydrate.

DUCTILITY
A material’s ductility is its ability to be molded or shaped without breaking.
Copper is a ductile material, aluminum is far less ductile (best when forged, cast, extruded or rolled into
shape) Cork is a ductile wood product

DURABILITY
Relative to a material’s color, dimension, surface quality, and structural performance, most material
characteristics are in a constant state of flux.
Sunlight, wind and pollution are exterior forces that influence the quality and integrity of a material’s
surface. Use, wear and maintenance also influence the physical conditions of materials over time.
Durable materials such as galvanized metal, epoxy resins and hard plastic will generally last longer than
steel, organic textiles and soft thermoplastics.
ELASTICITY
A material’s modulus of elasticity is evident when deformations produced by low stress are completely
recoverable after the load is removed.

EXPANDABILITY
Most materials (except for thermosetting plastics) expand with either heat or moisture.

Metal expands when heated. Wood and leather expand when moisture is increased. Thermoplastics
expand when heat is applied. Fabric and rubber deform when tensile forces are applied.

Expandable polyurethane is a material that expands when exposed to air for the first time. (E.g. Gaetano
Pesce UP series chair)

HAPTIC SENSATIONS
Haptic sensations are the physical, sensorial and phenomenological experiences of touching and
interacting with furniture.

Aluminum feels cool to the touch, even in controlled conditions. Glass is also cold to the touch. Vinyl
does not pass moisture and can cause condensation to form when direct contact is made with exposed
skin.

STABILITY
Stable materials remain inert, with little or no dimensional change, once changes occur in moisture,
temperature or applied force.

MDF (Medium-density fiberboard) is one of the most dimensionally stable wood composite materials
and is used as a substrate for veneers.

Ceramic, granite, stone, and thermosetting plastics are stable materials unaffected by moisture or
temperature.

SURFACE QUALITIES
Surface quality is a general term that describes the visual and tactile characteristics of a materials
surface.
Many common materials such as wood, stone and nature fabrics are porous and require sealers to
protect and enhance their visual appeal.
Historically, societies have places high values on the surface and finish of all things made.

WORKABILITY
Workability is the quality of a material’s response to being cut, drilled, sanded, planed, folded or shaped.

Mahogany is easy to cut and carve and is an ideal choice for many wood furniture designs.
Cherry often has directional changes in its grain, making it somewhat difficult to work with.
Tempered glass cannot be cut or drilled after tempering.
Marble and granite can be precisely cut, using either a water jet cutter, or a CNC device. They can also
be drilled, sanded, honed and carved.