CHAIRS. We love chairs. We think we need chairs. But chairs are a strange parasite on humanity, and yet, they are still adorable. They are like pets, who benefit from all our kindness, money, and love, but ultimately contribute little more than their poop and their mere presence in our homes. How appropriate that we begin the year with an entire book (suggested to me by the nonpareil 99% Invisible podcast) strictly analyzing the cultural, artistic, and design facets of the humble seating device. Galen Cranz’s The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body, and Design (1998), is a font of meditations on the chair’s effect on human bodies and society.
Galen Cranz is a graduate professor of Architecture and Environmental Design at University of California, Berkeley, and as a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, she outlines what the hell that technique is and why it matters. Interestingly for us, Frederick Matthias Alexander, the founder, had an eureka moment about developing better posture for overall human health after constantly losing his voice after doing passionate public recitations of Shakespeare. How’s THAT for a segue into 2021?
The philosophy behind the technique is that improving our posture in different physical positions can cure many of modern humans’ bodily pains, especially back and leg-related aches and malfunctions. Unfortunately, there’s not enough proof of the technique’s effectiveness to warrant insurance company coverage, but the musculo-skeletal principles Cranz discusses are enough to subconsciously make you sit up straighter and adjust your desk chair. Or in my case, increases aspirational furniture purchasing plans.
All the things you believed made a chair “comfortable” is actually what makes it devastating to developing good posture. For example, cushioning = the enemy. A simple flat stool with an inch of foam is better for your spine than an overstuffed leather sofa. But ironically, the much-maligned La-Z-Boy style chair (aka "movement" furniture) is great because it offers multiple positioning options. Who knew? Maybe my Barcalounger ain't so bad after all.
Cranz also brings us along on a short trip through history and the effect the invention of the chair has had on our perception of peoples’ personalities, taste, and social positions. Case in point: the throne. Squatting or sitting on the floor or a slightly elevated bench or stool was the norm for most people, so a high-backed, over-cushioned seat with armrests was the ultimate means of indicating your superiority/authority. Throw a footrest in there for good measure and we’re talking about the definitive KWEEN. Ironically, squatting is way better for you than sitting in a throne.
Too bad this book basically ruined my resolution to get a Barcelona chair (the back is entirely unsupportive and forces the spine into a disadvantageous curve), but Cranz ultimately admits that there is no perfect chair and that in a perfect world, we’d all be changing our positions every 12 minutes anyway. As she reiterates, “The best posture is the next posture.” I might just get an adjustable platform type seat instead. I saw one on Terrace House and it actually looks terribly stylish. Cranz says it's good to have a low divan-type thing so you can practice the "constructive rest" position (supine, knees bent, feet flat) to help lengthen your spine and give it a proper rest. Luckily, I already do this everyday at the end of every yoga session! But who doesn't want a nice firm piece of furniture so you can do it anytime without rolling out the mat?
On a penultimate note, I lied earlier about being totally autodidactic. Verily, I am enlisting the vast resources of The Great Courses Plus in order to supplement my scholarly adventures this time around. My watchlist is already populated with several subjects, but I’m beginning with the lecture series on how to “read” art and therefore suck every ounce of enjoyment out of my next trip to a museum which will be forever from now. Now I have a true excuse for watching fewer TV things because all my free time will be spent at study or whatever new shit is screening on Criterion Channel that day. Also, fanfiction. And drawing/painting/sculpting for my “Final Projects” every other month. I can’t be bothered with anything else when there is so much ART happening. I realize this will plunge me even further down my personal well of pop cultural ignorance but who fucking cares.
The next 23 days I will be assiduously studying Judith Miller's hefty coffee table book on the history of furniture (what have I gotten myself into?). It's the closest I can get to walking through both MoMA and the V&A without plane tickets and all the COVID. I've already learned the difference among quartersawn, plainsawn, and riftsawn wood planks. God help me.
