Design Moment: Thinking Man’s Chair, c. 1986

Offered a piece of furniture designed in the 1980s and you might think twice, thinking it’d be too showy or tricksy, maybe even garishly post-modern. Not Jasper Morrison’s (b. 1959) most famous chair though – that would be at home anywhere. Called the Thinking Man’s Chair, it was designed in 1986 as a prototype by the young English designer for a furniture fair in Japan. Two years later it went into production and it has been in production since – made by Italian label Cappellini – and edging its way into modern classic status.  The immediate reaction to it is that it’s highly functional – not something you can always say of “designer chairs” – and it shows the constructive simplicity that marks it as truly modern. Made of tubular and flat metal with black plastic feet, the sitter gently reclines in it – which is where the “thinking” part of the title probably comes in. What ever about the contemplative suggestion, it has to be one of the few pieces of furniture with such a gendered title. Also on the armrests are two circular discs to hold drinks or whatever – putting the chair firmly in the “lounge chair” category. Morrison designed it not long after his graduation from London’s Royal Collage of Art. There is something almost retro in its flowing shape – as if its true home is beside a kidney-shaped swimming pool in a 1950s Florida motel. The Thinking Man’s Chair is designed to be used both outdoors and in.