the fibreglass 'Formula chair' by Eero Aarnio for ADELTA, 1998
In the visual arts the term ‘plastic’ is used for any form of creation involving a medium that can be sculpted or moulded, but it is also the term for a type of material that revolutionised the twentieth century. The name of no other material describes so clearly the inherent property which makes plastic so unique – the ease with which it can be shaped.
Using a number of plastic chairs as an example Architonic outlines the metamorphosis of this item of furniture which more than any other is deeply involved in cultural history, charting how its design idiom and technology have changed in recent decades. (by Susanne Fritz)
