THE COMFORTABLE WIRE CHAIRS Behind The Bend
With the holidays quickly approaching, this time of year gets so busy. On top of all the holiday party planning, gift buying and just getting life wrapped up for the end of the year, we've also been doing a good number of meet and greets with the design community around Southern California. We thought we would use today's Behind the Bend to discuss the topic that comes up the most during these presentations. That topic being; how can these metal chairs be so damn comfortable?
When we originally started to develop our first line, there were many factors to consider. We wanted the Goods to be extremely stylish, but also as pleasing to the body as they would be to the eyes. Having been inspired by the wire chairs of the 50's, 60's and 70's for as long as we can remember, to us comfort was always their downfall. At the end of the day, furniture needs to be just as functional as it is decorative. So what needed to change? How could we take a material like iron and make it comfortable?
We started with the pitch. The definition of pitch is the steepness of a slope. In reference to furniture design, that would be the angle of a back or foot rest for example. For chair design especially, the pitch is one of the most important elements to us. It's the difference between sitting comfortably upright for hours at dinner party or comfortably lounging with a cup of coffee on your back patio reading your morning blog updates. After spending a few months adjusting and then readjusting and then readjusting again the pitch of our first dining chair, the Lucy and our first lounge the Farmhouse, we finally got the angle just right.
Having gotten the pitch perfect, no pun intended, we turned our focus to the seat. The other comfort issue that we had always noticed with vintage wire design was the spacing between the wires. Their designs leave so much open space between the wires, that the weight distribution keeps you always adjusting and struggling to stay comfortable. To solve that problem we went back to the idea of function vs. design. We decided that breaking up the geometric pattern was the right move and we gave the seat it's own design. We kept it simple and worked hard to get the wires as close as possible. We first developed this theory with the Lucy and Farmhouse, butended up liking the simplicity of the seat pattern so much that we developed two more chairs in that style alone. Thus the Ethel Chair and Bunny Lounge were born.
Well, there you have it. Two great examples of how the goods get the name Bend. Our seat design is something that we are especially proud of and a quality that has truly become a signature to our products. If you need any more information on how the goods were developed or even how they are made today, don't hesitate to reach out. Shoot us an email at info@bendgoods.com and let us know what's on your mind. We love answering your questions and keeping the design dialogue going.
