Show Some Love Happy Earth Day

The idea for a national day to focus on the environment came to Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, he realized that if he could infuse that energy with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda. Senator Nelson announced the idea for a “national teach-in on the environment” to the national media.

No matter what you like to do best, there's a way to get involved in Earth Day. You could plant a tree, make a meal with locally-grown vegetables, educate a family member, clean up trash in your neighbourhood, set up a bird feeder or buy some eco friendly furniture — the possibilities are endless.

Remember, you don't have to wait for Earth Day to show your love.

There is no better day than Earth Day to share with you one of my favourite stories about how iconic product design is born and lasts forever.

"Wilton C. Dinges founded Emeco (Electric Machine and Equipment Company) in 1940 in Hanover, Pennsylvania. During WWII the U.S government gave him a big assignment - make chairs that could withstand water, salt air and sailors. Make chairs lightweight and make them strong, build them for a lifetime. Aluminum was the obvious choice, engineered for practical purposes, designed by real people. 

Together with Alcoa experts, Wilton C. Dinges created the 1006 Navy Chair made of recycled aluminum, using 77 steps to create a seamless one-piece look. Forming, welding, grinding, heat-treating, finishing, anodizing - just a few of the steps it takes to build an Emeco chair. No one else makes chairs this way. No one can. It takes a human eye to know when the process is done right, and it takes human hands to get it that way. 

The Navy Chair was a chair so durable, it had an estimated life cycle of 150 years and far exceeded the Navy’s specifications. A humble but proud four-legged chair, weighing only seven pounds but ranked right up there alongside such unimpeachable symbols of no-nonsense American ingenuity as rag-top Jeeps, Converse high-tops, Zippo lighters and button fly Levi’s. 

The Emeco story is characterized by a special mix of design and engineering, material knowhow and handcraft – with the mission to make things that last."

LESE CHAIR BY KONSTANTIN ACHKOV

The Lese chair is a minimalistic, interlocking, puzzle structure. The unnecessary elements in the construction are avoided, thus emphasizing on the unique shape. Ergonomics is provided by specific inclines in all directions. The hardwood beech legs give strength but also redirect to the classical chairs from the past. The seat and the back are produced from transparent, extremely strong polycarbonate, which allow the beauty of the construction to remain visible.

Konstantin Achkov

K1 CHAIR BY MARTA ADAMCZYK

“K1 is full of contrasts. The profile of this piece looks like linear, slim chair contour, but its shape is a solid steel construction with wooden elements in the seat and backrest.” 

“Sharp lines of metal frames contrasts the natural grain of wood. This design integrates clean, simple, minimalistic form with tiny refined details.” Says the designer

RJR CHAIR BY MARIO ALESSIANI

The RJR Chair by Mario Alessiani has a simple design feature which distinguishes it from other wooden chairs. The chair  backrest can be angle adjusted by just twisting it. RJR has a simple design that is sure to surprise you. 
Basically the idea is to create a design object which is reproducible by the most different craft companies spread throughout Italy, in a sort of chain sustainable for humans and the environment.
Aside from the backrest, the RJR chair is stackable, and the greatest thing about the design is that it’s open source! The design plan is available to any carpenter or hobbyist who wishes to build the RJR chair. Just head down to thedesigner’s website for more details!

’14’ AN ARMCHAIR BY LUKAS AVENAS

The designer’s description


An armchair for people who read. One can hang books or magazines, that way keeping them organized. There is no need for bookmarks anymore. This piece of furniture fits most interiors, especially minimalistic ones.

The armchair is meant to be used in lobbies and waiting rooms, where usually one can find booklets and magazines, but can very well appear in personal areas as well.

Wia.

TOOL CHAIR BY FREDERIC JULIAN RÄTSCH

"How do we actually sit? Do we really need the whole seat or a classic backrest? Is there always a front or a back? - To questioning known typologies and standards is fundamental in my work as a designer. It is not about making just new and pleasing things, or even for a fashion trend, but rather about driving forward an evolution of things. In doing so, it is necessary to fathom out and change boundaries. The TOOL CHAIR is a chair which enables - maybe even provokes - flexible seating. It enables the sitter to take up various postures and positions. A bent plate on the side offers support, be it as arm rest or backrest, to hold on to, to rest on or place something. With its narrow seat, the TOOL CHAIR cultivates the habit of sitting on the edge of a chair. With its rounded sides and edges, it does not prescribe a sitting posture and allows the sitter to move in any direction.

On average we sit about 9.3 hours per day - much more than we stand, walk or lie. Sitting permanently in one position is unhealthy and sap one's energy. The TOOL CHAIR is to help the user remain concentrated, not for relaxing. On this chair you stay agile - you stand up and sit down again. The seat height is higher than usual to facilitate this. The TOOL CHAIR does not extrapolate immediately, but rather has to be discovered. This involvement increases the "potential for identification". Mostly the chair is not perceived indifferently, but surprises and provokes the user towards discovery.

The TOOL CHAIR is the result of the bachelor thesis on the subject of "Serial Production - a Restriction". In addition to the theme of agile seating, the project’s focus was the precise multiplication of a product with the tools of university’s workshop. The concept and design were continually tested and adapted with serial production in mind.

The restriction was taken as a chance for simplicity and clarity. The design is characterized by straight wooden slats which are just cutted in a special angle and glued afterwards. Tools for the reproduction of components were built in order to manufacture several chairs in a standardised process."

Wia.

THE BOW TIE CHAIR BY GRIDESIGN STUDIO

Bamboo is one of the symbols of the Taiwanese culture. This product utilizes the flexibility and strength of Taiwanese bamboo to perform a brand-new style of modern furniture. Constructed by heating laminated bamboo several times, to give its curved shape. 

The chair offers users of experience of comfort and good ventilation, with two storage areas on both sides.Taiwan-based Gridesign Studio and founder Scott Lin have chosen two types of shades, smoked and unsmoked bamboo color. 

This Tie chair looks more like a fashion accessory and sculpture, than ordinary chair.

Wia.

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CHAIR NO.14 BY MICHAEL THONET

Since 1859, when chair No. 14 was first introduced, more than 50 million units have been sold all over the world. It is made using a unique steam-bending technology, known as bentwood, that required years to perfect. With its affordable price and simple design, it became one of the best-selling chairs ever made.  Thonet's No. 14 was made of six pieces of steam-bent wood, ten screws, and two nuts. The wooden parts were made by heating beechwood slats to 100 °C (212 °F), pressing them into curved cast-iron moulds, and then drying them at around 70 °C (158 °F) for 20 hours.^[3] The chairs could be mass-produced by unskilled workers and disassembled to save space during transportation, an idea similar to flat pack IKEA furniture.

Thanks to its low weight, attractive price and legendary strength, this chair quickly found its place in the cafes of Vienna, earning the nickname the "café chair".

When Michael Thonet first introduced his ‘Consumsessel Nr. 14’ in Vienna in 1859, he could have had no idea that it would become the chair with the highest production run of all time. Since then, the chair, is made of solid bentwood and has been in continuous production by Michael Thonet’s descendants at the firm’s headquarters in Frankenberg, Germany. 

Developed specifically to appeal and be affordableby to broad levels of the population, it was to launch Thonet's international reputation in the 19th century. Today, the company is run by the fifth generation of the Thonet family, direct descendents of Michael Thonet, in Frankenberg in North Hesse, Germany, Thonet's head office.

The chair can be found the world over – in private dwellings or in public buildings – in Asia, Australia, Africa, North- and South America and, of course, in Europe.

Often mispronounced "Tho-nay" the name is pronounced "toe-net" with a hard beginning and ending t.

Chair No 14, today known as 214, is still produced by Thonet.

ARBOREUS BENCH BY ROTA LAB

When nature forms meet the function. Organic inspired forms made of solid ash and american walnut, begin to expand apartment in Rome. Starts with ceiling and turns into steel solid seat “becoming a complex and harmonious installation inspired by natural forms.”

Says Rota Lab, the piece was “inspired, on the customers demand, by Reinoso’s ‘Spaghetti bench’, (and) required two months of intense experimentation on wood bending and one month to build and assemble it.”

Wia.