Polypropylene stacking chair
Encyclopedia
The Polypropylene stacking chair or Polyprop is a chair
manufactured in an injection moulding
process using polypropylene
. It was designed by Robin Day
in 1963 for S.Hille & Co. It is now so iconic, it was selected as one of eight designs in a 2009 series of British stamps of "British Design Classics."
This is one of the very few chairs that after over 40 years is still in production and has been made in forty countries around the world, for schools, hospitals, airports, canteens, restaurants, arenas, hotels, as well as homes. It is the best-selling chair in the world.
The chair first appeared on the market in a choice of charcoal or flame red colours at a little under £3 in price. The side chair won a Council of Industrial Design (now the Design Council
) award in 1965.
The brief from Hille was for a low cost mass-produced stacking chair, affordable by all and to meet virtually every seating requirement. Over time it became available in a wide variety of colours and with different forms of base and upholstery. These variations have included Series E for children, made in five sizes with lifting holes, and Polo with rows of graduated circular holes making it suitable for outdoor use.
The one-piece seat and back was injection moulded from polypropylene
, a lightweight thermoplastic with a high impact resistance. Polypropylene was invented by an Italian scientist, Giulio Natta
, in 1954.
Chair
A chair is a stable, raised surface used to sit on, commonly for use by one person. Chairs are most often supported by four legs and have a back; however, a chair can have three legs or could have a different shape depending on the criteria of the chair specifications. A chair without a back or...
manufactured in an injection moulding
Injection molding
Injection molding is a manufacturing process for producing parts from both thermoplastic and thermosetting plastic materials. Material is fed into a heated barrel, mixed, and forced into a mold cavity where it cools and hardens to the configuration of the cavity...
process using polypropylene
Polypropylene
Polypropylene , also known as polypropene, is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications including packaging, textiles , stationery, plastic parts and reusable containers of various types, laboratory equipment, loudspeakers, automotive components, and polymer banknotes...
. It was designed by Robin Day
Robin Day (designer)
Robin Day, OBE, FCSD was a British chartered industrial and furniture designer, best-known for the injection moulded polypropylene stacking chair, more than 20 million of which have been manufactured...
in 1963 for S.Hille & Co. It is now so iconic, it was selected as one of eight designs in a 2009 series of British stamps of "British Design Classics."
This is one of the very few chairs that after over 40 years is still in production and has been made in forty countries around the world, for schools, hospitals, airports, canteens, restaurants, arenas, hotels, as well as homes. It is the best-selling chair in the world.
The chair first appeared on the market in a choice of charcoal or flame red colours at a little under £3 in price. The side chair won a Council of Industrial Design (now the Design Council
Design Council
The Design Council is a United Kingdom non-departmental public body incorporated by Royal Charter and registered as a charity.Registered charity number 272099.- In the beginning :The Design Council started in 1944 as the Council of Industrial Design...
) award in 1965.
The brief from Hille was for a low cost mass-produced stacking chair, affordable by all and to meet virtually every seating requirement. Over time it became available in a wide variety of colours and with different forms of base and upholstery. These variations have included Series E for children, made in five sizes with lifting holes, and Polo with rows of graduated circular holes making it suitable for outdoor use.
The one-piece seat and back was injection moulded from polypropylene
Polypropylene
Polypropylene , also known as polypropene, is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications including packaging, textiles , stationery, plastic parts and reusable containers of various types, laboratory equipment, loudspeakers, automotive components, and polymer banknotes...
, a lightweight thermoplastic with a high impact resistance. Polypropylene was invented by an Italian scientist, Giulio Natta
Giulio Natta
Giulio Natta was an Italian chemist and Nobel laureate. He won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1963 with Karl Ziegler for work on high polymers.-Early years:...
, in 1954.
External links
- http://www.hille.co.uk/
- Images of different models of the chair from the Visual Arts Data Service (VADS).