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Donald Judd's Iconic Chair 84 Design (2020)
- neilv 6y agoAre those chairs comfortable?
- enw 6y agoNo.
- jonsen 6y agoI guess not even the price is comfortable.
- schrijver 6y agoThen again you can take the design to any carpenter and it won’t be too expensive to have one made. Judd who is famous first and foremost as an artist always had his works manufactured by others, I think he liked the idea of removing the artist’s personal ‘handwriting’. Ironically, he still played within the gallery system, where the gallery and the artist get to mark certain pieces as “authentic” and create limited editions.
- trasz 6y agoMany timber stores can cut the material on customer's request, so you probably don't even need the carpenter - just order parts, to size, and bolt them together.
- JoeAltmaier 6y agoAnd regret it for the rest of your life.
- uniqueid 6y agoThat depends. Are you shaped like a cube?
- blunte 6y agoThis gives brutalism a more direct representation.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- dep_b 6y agoThe funny thing with desk chairs the choice is basically an Eames (clone), no comfort or ugliness. Is it that hard to design something you would spend eight hours sitting in that doesn’t hurt your eyes?
- jaspax 6y agoI hate to be the guy who goes "this is what's wrong with modern architecture", but... this is what's wrong with modern architecture. These chairs are both uncomfortable and ugly, literally just squares of plywood fastened together in the most simplistic design that could possibly be called a "chair". The only reason anyone pays attention to them is because of the aura of prestige that they accrue from coming from a famous designer. And yes, I'm aware that this is furniture not architecture, but this is in Architectural Digest, and the sensibility that leads to people cooing over these chairs is the same sensibility that leads to architects making ugly, non-functional buildings that everyone hates except other architects.
- function_seven 6y agoI'm willing to sacrifice some function to form. But damn I have my limits, and these chairs are way past mine. I just bought a new desk for my office at home. Functionally speaking, it's worse than my old, L-shaped one. The old one had more usable space on it, had good depth in the corner for my displays and laptops, with plenty of desktop in front for writing or whatnot. It also took less space in the room, because of its shape. But it was plain, kinda shabby, and didn't spark any joy. The new desk is gorgeous[0]. Rosewood finish with a floating top and pretty legs and all that. It sits in the middle of the room. I have to use a coaster now with drinks. I have to take care not to bang my chair into it, or carelessly throw my keys on it, etc. And it's worth it. I really like just looking at this, more than I miss the convenience of the old L-shaped desk. It might not be everyone's taste, but I have a hard time believing that even those who don't care for it don't at least see how I could. But these chairs? I just don't see it. Its one thing to be uncomfortable. Fine. But try not to be ugly while you're at it. I might also be "that guy", though? [0] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=model+75+desk+rosewood&t=ffab&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images https://duckduckgo.com/?q=model+75+desk+rosewood&t=ffab&iar=...
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- the_other 6y agoIt's very pretty. Congratulations on your purchase and all that ... but my whole body noticeably recoiled when I looked at it. I felt instant anticipation of knocked knees, and the stiff and precise manner in which I would need to comport myself around it so as not to cause damage to it, or me. That desk is art, not furniture!
- walrus01 6y agoThings designed by people who don't have to actually use them.
- J_cst 6y agoMy father has been making chairs from 1973 to 2016. I've grown up around the factory and all I can say is that wooden chairs are probably the most difficult piece of furniture to be produced. There is a lot of fiddling around angles and slopes and math. A typical wooden chair is made up of at least 12 different wooden parts to be joined together with tenons, mortises and all that jazz. Calling that apples box a chair is insulting. I am sorry, I know I sound crabbed, but that's just the truth...
- sonofhans 6y agoThis is so true. Chairs are fantastically difficult to make well, and especially to design. A successful chair has to deal with hundreds of pounds of stress on small joints for decades on end, typically using only traditional joinery and glue. The proportions and fit have to be just right, the surfaces have to be durable. There are lovely and comfortable plywood chairs, like Eames' -- https://www.hermanmiller.com/products/seating/side-chairs/eames-molded-plywood-chairs/ https://www.hermanmiller.com/products/seating/side-chairs/ea... Donald Judd is, like, a god to my architect friends. But none of them own his chairs.
- regularfry 6y agoEven if you're limited to flat boards, there are traditional designs that knock this into a cocked hat. https://mjonesaifabantiques.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/26F1E25D-0BB5-4067-8B07-D5C8676AA98C.jpeg https://mjonesaifabantiques.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2... is glorious, as is https://images.antiquesatlas.com/dealer-stock-images/pre1800antiques/Rare_18thC_Welsh_Oak_Lambing_C_as516a233z.jpg https://images.antiquesatlas.com/dealer-stock-images/pre1800..., and that's not much more than a few boards nailed together.
- me_me_me 6y ago> Calling that apples box a chair is insulting. I am sorry, I know I sound crabbed, but that's just the truth... Haha, it seems everyone on this thread thinks the same. Its just plywood squares put together. At some stage someone has to say it 'The king is naked'.
- secondcoming 6y agoYou can pry my Herman Miller Aeron from my cold, dead arse.
- blunte 6y agoEven the Aeron is uncomfortable after a while. I left Aeron chairs after 10 years and switched to standing. 15 years later, I feel so much better. Also, it’s now so much faster to come and go from my desk.
- cainxinth 6y agoI went from a seated desk to a standing desk to a sit/stand situation that I switch back and forth between throughout the day. Been with it for about five years now. I came to realize that it’s not sitting or standing that is necessarily bad (especially if you have a good ergo chair and make at least some attempt at maintaining a healthy posture), it’s staying in the same position for very long periods that wreaks havoc on your body.
- a9h74j 6y agoI don't know who said it, but "An architect can like a chair without ever having sat in it."
- mrweasel 6y agoI don't remember where the precise quote or where it's from, but it's some documentary about design and is goes something like: "Why do uncomfortable chairs still exist?"
- simplecto 6y agoJudd is also one of the artists who went out and colonized Marfa, Texas in the 1980s. Far West Texas is beautiful on its own. It didn't need the arrogance of simplistic and nihilistic concrete and steel boxes left in the land like an abandoned worksite.
- crispyambulance 6y agoMarfa is a delightful place, but if Judd had never set-up shop down there, it would be yet another West Texas ghost-town today. There's something special about the spareness of the landscape and Judd's works in them. It makes the touristy aspects of Marfa tolerable to an extent.
- joehartshorn 6y agoArch Digest is a terrible place to read about anything related to art or design. Judd was a seminal artist, and has some fantastically sharp essays(0), which are well worth reading. I agree that the chairs are not practical, but conceptually I think they're brilliant. Having such a pure vision (of reducing an object to its most essential form) and executing on it, I think is admirable. I think you're missing the point if you approach Judd from a practical position, and disregard the value of his ideas. (0) https://juddfoundation.org/artist/writing/ https://juddfoundation.org/artist/writing/ ("It's hard to find a good lamp" and "Some aspects of colour in general..." are good places to start)
- blunte 6y agoBut is it reasonable to call that its most essential form when that form is so anatomically wrong? In other words, if a chair so badly fits most humans, should it be called a chair? A sphere can be used as a chair, and it is even simpler or more pure design-wise, but we don’t call it a chair.
- alanbernstein 6y agoA yoga ball is actually a better chair than this thing.
- joehartshorn 6y agoDon's rebuttal; "I am often told that the furniture is not comfortable, and in that not functional. The source of the question is in the overstuffed bourgeois Victorian furniture, which, as I said, never ceased. The furniture is comfortable to me. Rather than making a chair to sleep in or a machine to live in, it is better to make a bed. A straight chair is best for eating or writing. The third position is standing." - 'It's Hard To Find A Good Lamp' 1993 http://s3.amazonaws.com/juddfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/21164501/Its_Hard_To_Find_A_Good_Lamp_1993.pdf http://s3.amazonaws.com/juddfoundation.org/wp-content/upload... I'd also suggest reading "Being Dumb" by Kenneth Goldsmith, as a reminder that not everything requires a strict practicality to be great. https://www.theawl.com/2013/07/being-dumb/ https://www.theawl.com/2013/07/being-dumb/
- 6y ago
- maleno 6y agoAs a counterweight to the other opinions here, I'll just say that I think these chairs, particularly when grouped together, are immensely beautiful. I understand they are not intended as chairs one sits in for eight hours a day, but as lightweight, easy-to-make occasional furniture. There are other examples of Judd's furniture, mostly the desks[1] and tables[2], that are more 'practical' in the traditional sense, and which could even be described as approachable and warm. I actually made a copy of his library bed[3] out of plywood last year, and intend to make some of these chairs (and maybe one of the desks) when I have some time this summer. I believe this is what the furniture was intended for: easy DIY replication, minimum of fuss with the maximum aesthetic impact. Easy to understand if one is familiar with Judd's work as an artist/sculptor, which is obviously the biggest influence on his furniture. You could also look to Gerrit Rietveld, Enzo Mari, and Shaker furniture as background for Judd's designs. I'd recommend reading his 1993 essay "It's Hard To Find A Good Lamp" [4] and seeking out a PDF of his (very rare) 'Furniture Retrospective' book[5], which places this work in its proper context. As he says in that essay, "Conventions are not worth reacting to one way or another." As an aside, it is frustrating to read (over and over again) that one could only like this work, and work like it, out of some cooler-than-thou pretence. This is a very common bad faith response to art and design that does not (and does not seek to) conform to traditional expectations. As someone whose tastes run very much in a modernist direction, I find the assertion that "since it's so ugly, it must be avant-garde so I'll pretend to like it" ungenerous and shallow. Is it that difficult to accept that there are other ways of looking at the world, other traditions and other intentions? I'm not saying it's all good (when was it ever?), but the assumption of bad faith in those who respond to it is wrong. [1] https://champ-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Architecture-Office-Marfa-Texas.--1280x0-c-default.jpg https://champ-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Archit... [2] https://media.architecturaldigest.com/photos/5907ae9cca0b76474b000f3e/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/donald-judd-furniture-02.jpg https://media.architecturaldigest.com/photos/5907ae9cca0b764... [3] https://judd.furniture/wp-content/uploads/Single-Daybed-32-Pine-Library-Stool-42-900x601.jpg https://judd.furniture/wp-content/uploads/Single-Daybed-32-P... [4] https://s3.amazonaws.com/juddfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/21164501/Its_Hard_To_Find_A_Good_Lamp_1993.pdf https://s3.amazonaws.com/juddfoundation.org/wp-content/uploa... [5] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Donald-Judd-Retrospective-Museum-Boymans/dp/9069181398 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Donald-Judd-Retrospective-Museum-Bo...
- 112233 6y agoI cringe when I imagine how my back will feel from sitting on this artwork. Here is something to help with chair blues: how plywood chairs are made https://youtu.be/IndP2IKXTP0 https://youtu.be/IndP2IKXTP0
- chris_st 6y agoWe were using a consultant for a while whose (temporary, I believe) office was in a friend's architecture office/studio. I remember seeing these very artsy steel-tubing-and-leather-sheets-at-weird-angles chairs, and scoffing. My boss (who had been there before) said, No, go sit in them. On that dare, I did, and WOW, were they comfortable! So, yeah, some architects can design comfortable seating. But not all.
- JoeAltmaier 6y agoI disagree, but those are art and not a chair. A chair has utility. Nobody sitting on those back-aching butt-hurting pine boards is going to want to sit on them for long. They're designed to be un-chairs, places where the function of 'chair' is denied. Sure they look cool. And if we all lived in FlatLand and were geometric shapes, a functional house might look like those pictures. But not here in reality.