Unfolding Chair

Peter Danko, who has called himself “an industrial designer craftsman,” began his career as a freelance woodcarver in the early 1970s, but he soon shifted to crafting innovative furniture, particularly chairs. He designed many of his workshop’s machines alongside his father, a patternmaker and woodworker, including a high-pressure mold, to create the first successful one-piece molded plywood chair, in 1976. He begins by creating many drawings; he takes the most refined solutions and creates quarter-scale drawings, which lead to a full-scale drawing and then a prototype, either at quarter or full scale. In addition to function, structure, and aesthetics, Danko looks to ergonomics and ecological concerns. Of the many questions Danko said he asks himself when completing a prototype is, “Have I found the simplest, most perfect solution to my problem?” By the early 1980s, he had re-invented the standard folding chair using two pieces of plywood and custom-designed nylon hinges that could be molded into the plywood. The Unfolding Chair, although sturdy, ergonomic, and aesthetically beautiful, remained in production for less than half a decade, unable to compete with the significantly cheaper and widely used metal folding chairs.

Unfolding Chair; Designed by Peter Danko (American, b. 1949); USA; bent and laminated plywood; H x W x D: 85 x 50.3 x 51.5cm (33 7/16 x 19 13/16 x 20 1/4in.); 1983-59-1