The History of the Folding Chair

I came across a very in-depth article about the history of the folding chair on the design boom website. It shows just about every folding chair in the history of the folding chair! The two design that we most see these days are the X shape and the Triangle shape. Throughout most of the chairs however they do not provide a great deal of back support. The designs range from very simple chairs to extremely elaborate designs that were made for high ranked individuals.

You can find the article at http://www.designboom.com/eng/education/foldingchair.html

Folding Chairs

The folding chair is something that has been about since 2000-1500 b.c. with the Egyptians first designing a folding stool for the commanding officer in their army, today however does not have that exclusive status that is did back in 1500 b.c. The chair has become boring and extremely unsupportive, and because of this I would like to redesign the chair, making is much more comfortable while providing a great deal more support to the back. Two areas in which I would like to reduce are slouching and hunching, as is the same in each of my concepts. I feel there is a lot a could change with the folding chair and in turn make it a great deal better for the user to use.

The main areas of the chair are the back and the base, both of which could be modified to create an all round better chair. With the back I would like to create a larger area for the back to rest upon and also incorporate a lumbar support, as the lumbar area of the back is the area that is most affected by slouching.

I will also look at the base of the chair, experimenting with angles and shapes, that will hopefully improve on the chairs comfort again decrease hunching and slouching.

Back Pack

Similar to the idea behind the laptop bag, using the same thought process and understanding I had the concept of a backpack. The backpack would work in a similar way to the laptop bag as it would attach to the back of a chair and use the same back support stricture to give the user more support while seated. The backpack would also work while on the users back as posture support. The same supporting structure would provide support in the same way is it does while seated.



The north face rucksack above is a good example of a well designed bag. It has been designed to distribute the weight of its contents away from the shoulders and through the whole back. There are many other rucksacks by other manufacturers that provide different types this same idea. I would like to use some of this in my concept with also introducing the back support.

Laptop Bags

Lap top bags are an item that almost every student has on them, whether they’re carrying a laptop or books. Using this item the idea was to give it a second use. As the student takes a seat they put their bag over the back of their chair they would use the lid of the bag as the support. I thought of this idea as when I was in primary that is when me and the other children use to keep our bags.

The lid of laptop back would have some kind of rigid support built into the lid so that when the lid is folded over that back of the chair it becomes part of the chair. This added support would mainly target supporting the lumbar region of the back, as most cheep portable seating does not have much if any lumbar support. By giving the user this added support it would hopefully encourage them to sit up straight and allow them to be more comfortable.

Frictional materials are also something that I would like to look at. With potentially using a material that has frictional properties as the outer surface of the lid, with would try and prevent the user from sliding down that chair, into the slouching positon.

Under Armour

Under Armour® uses "Strategic Compression" as the engineering platform for all the RECHARGE™ compression products. That means tweaking fabric composition, garment construction and the degree and placement of compression strategically on the body to maximise the full effect of compression for recovery.

A superbly well styled and striking Theraputic Compression Top from the RECHARGE™ range constructed using HeatGear® fabrication for rapid moisture wicking and heat eradication with a fabric mix of Polyester (81%) & Elastine (19%), the RECHARGE™ brand is a marvel of technical fabric engineering and fully embraces the known benefits of Athletic Post Exertion Muscle Compression, to the full. A Flatlock Seam construction ensures there is no seam abrasion dispite wearing the garment for extended periods.

If it's compression for gameday, it's built one way. If it's a women's training piece versus a men's training piece, they're built differently, strategically. A single type of compression doesn't answer every athlete's needs. With RECHARGE™, the end purpose is fixing any stress or damage, helping an athlete get back to full strength faster after experiencing muscle distress.

This concept first came from looking at back support that is used when lifting, used by weight lifters to home removals. The braces they wear are specifically aimed towards the lower lumbar region of the back and primarily work by compressing that area, adding more support by doing this. This helps the muscles hold the lumbar region of the back in place.

The under armour would provide a start to making the back support more discrete by making it a base layer that would be worn under normal clothing. By using materials that have better compression and using them around the lumbar region. This would work similar the support that weight lifters use.

Concept Stage

The main research stage of our project coming to an end and now it is the beginning of the concept stage. I will be aiming at people in education as my target market, people who are using seating that is cheap and unsupportive. The seating that is usually been bought from places like Ikea. I have concentrated on a few areas, I will be looking at add-ons to chairs, looking at what students have on them and how these objects can be adapted to help their posture while seated and even walking. Using the Language of slouch as my reasoning behind these ideas and eliminating the Gobba hunch and Divanio slouch.

Another area I will develop concepts in is clothing, looking at base layers, clothing like Under armour and the fabrics they use to help hold the body together. Smart fabrics are another area I will look into with the base layers. Looking at fabrics that have a high tension.

The folding chair is another item I will look at, it is a chair that is used in many locations for quick seating. They are used at concerts to conferences and while people are seated in these chairs they are there for a prolonged period of time.

Those are the three areas that I will develop concepts in, where in each a will be looking to eliminate hunching and slouching and also providing better comfort and posture.

Exposition

For our exposition we had I wanted to create some of the Marquette models that I had previously mocked up on Rhino. Below are a few images of the models. They worked very well especially the Gobba hunch model.