David Rowland

40/4 Chair

Erwin Rowland, Laura Schenone, Carl Magnussen

$140

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Phaidon Press Ltd
11 June 2024

Individual designers; Product design; Furniture design

The American industrial designer and inventor David Rowland is best known for his signature 40/4 chair. Released in 1964, it is so named because it is possible to stack forty chairs in just four feet an unprecedented achievement that established an entirely new category of versatile seating.

Rowlands wife Erwin and writer Laura Schenone reveal the inspiring story of how he brought his ground-breaking design to market. Initially, it was rejected by all the major furniture brands, including Herman Miller and Knoll, but Rowland persevered, and ultimately, the 40/4 chair became one of the most successful chairs ever produced, winning numerous accolades and selling over 8 million by the early 21st century. Today it is found in the permanent collections of museums worldwide, and gracing public and private spaces of every type from cathedrals to cultural centres, corporate and municipal buildings, to places of worship, schools, healthcare, hospitality and homes.

This fascinating biography of David Rowland and his 40/4 chair, featuring more than 250 photographs and documents (many never seen before), tells the compelling story of his design practice and a singular chair, whose design, through the determination of its designer, became the commercially successful and influential classic that it is. The first monograph on American designer, David Rowland: 40/4 Chair, is published to mark the 60th anniversary of this timeless design and includes the wide range of Rowlands work before and after the development of his masterpiece.

By: Erwin Rowland, Laura Schenone
Contributions by: Carl Magnussen
Imprint: Phaidon Press Ltd
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 290mm, Width: 214mm, Spine: 30mm
ISBN: 9781838668129
ISBN 10: 1838668128
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 11 June 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Erwin Rowland is a crafts designer and was married to David Rowland from 1971 until his death in 2010. Laura Schenone is a writer, editor, journalist, and James Beard Award winner. David Rowland was a pioneering Mid-Century designer. Born in 1924 in Hollywood, California, he studied at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. His elegant, perfectly engineered 40/4 chair is one of the most significant and masterful designs of the 20th century.