A Taxonomy of Office Chairs by Jonathan Olivares

A Taxonomy of Office Chairs is an exhaustive visual history of a single design typology. The book exemplifies author Jonathan Olivares’ meticulous approach to design research, and his desire to catalog the entire development of the industrially produced chair for the office – a hugely technically and culturally complex object. Olivares begins his survey at the beginning of the 1840s, a period agreed upon to have seen the origins of modern business management, and ends it in the present. Over this period he has selected 184 of the most innovative office chairs from the thousands that have been designed and manufactured. This rigorous selection process has been underpinned by one rule; only chairs that have introduced at least one innovation have been included. For further information, or to purchase, please visit the Phaidon website.