Phaidon Releases Monograph on David Rowland's Iconic 40/4 Chair
Furniture World News Desk on
4/25/2024
The publishing company Phaidon announced a new book by authors Erwin Rowland and Laura Schenone, titled David Rowland: 40/4 Chair. This is the first monograph on the American industrial designer and inventor, featuring over 250 photographs, drawings, and documents, many of which are unpublished. This visual biography offers a unique glimpse into the history of one of the 20th century’s most celebrated and masterful chair designs.
Born in 1924 in Hollywood, California, David Rowland was a pioneer of mid-century design. The only child of an impressionist painter father and a violinist mother, Rowland grew up in a creative household and showed signs of ingenuity early in his life, repairing a broken drill at the age of five and drawing complex renderings of fruits by the age of six. His father recognized Rowland’s innate predilection for creativity, and he fostered in Rowland an early interest in industrial design, a field in which he would come to have not only enduring commercial success but also cultivate a legacy of indisputable innovation and artistry.
At the age of 16, at his father’s urging, Rowland studied with László Moholy Nagy, former professor of the Bauhaus and would go on to serve as a bomber pilot during World War II. It was during long missions in miserable seats that he vowed to design comfortable seating if he survived the war. Upon return, Rowland attended the highly prestigious Cranbrook Academy of Art and, after graduating, turned down a job offer from Charles Eames, instead pursuing a career as an independent industrial designer in New York City. This decision opened the door to Rowland knowing and working with some of the most lauded luminaries of 20th-century design, including Norman Bel Geddes, Maria Bergson, George Nelson, Raymond Lowey, Florence Knoll and Buckminster Fuller.
Rowland’s most significant contribution to mid-century industrial design was his ground-breaking 40/4 chair. Released in 1964, it is so named because it is possible to stack 40 chairs in just 4 feet — an unprecedented achievement that established an entirely new category of versatile seating. This fascinating monograph follows Rowland’s life and his attempts to produce this iconic chair over six chapters: from first sketches and models to the final prototype and from the initial rejection by major furniture companies, including Knoll and Herman Miller, to the breakthrough order for 17,000 pieces by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill. Told by Rowland’s wife, Erwin, and journalist Laura Schenone, the book is both intimate in narration and broad in scope, including never-before-seen archival images of the chair beside all of Rowland’s other designs.
Today, the 40/4 chair is considered one of the world’s most inventive and functional designs. The chair has been in continuous production since it debuted in 1964 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. It is a permanent fixture in cathedrals, schools, offices, homes, hospitals, and cultural centers across the globe. The story behind its creation is one of perseverance, imagination, and creativity, and the chair’s contemporary status is a testament to its outstanding versatility and success.
Published to mark the 60th anniversary of this timeless design, David Rowland: 40/4 Chair uncovers the life of its determined creator and celebrates the ingenuity of his creative spirit.
Available in June 2024, the 240-page book can be pre-ordered at www.phaidon.com.