100 Midcentury Chairs and their stories

The UK copyright law for furniture has changed and sales of replica chairs, tables and other furniture will soon be banned. With their copyright term significantly extended, furniture designers are now on par with authors, artists and musicians when it comes to intellectual property.

Celebrating the work of furniture designers is Lucy Ryder Richardson’s new book 100 Midcentury Chairs: and their stories. Showcasing the 100 most interesting, most controversial and most beautiful chairs from the midcentury era, the book is a testament to furniture designs indeed being as important as other works of art. Because a midcentury chair is not simply something to sit on. It is a piece of design at once functional and aesthetically pleasing, which holds in its construction an elaborate story, rich in the drama, gossip and intrigue that accompanied the pioneering furniture designers of the Modern era.

Midcentury expert Lucy Ryder Richardson has interviewed the children and relatives of the designers to create unique portraits of each chair. Featured is the very best of European, Scandinavian, Japanese and American chair design, including works by Robin Day, Charles and Ray Eames, Ernest Race and Arne Jacobsen.

Readers will discover the materials, craftsmanship and manufacturing processes that brought chair design to the masses. There is also a directory of top international C20 dealers. 100 Midcentury Chairs is a must-have book for collectors, enthusiasts and design junkies alike.

Lucy Ryder Richardson was a successful fashion journalist before she moved to a sixties house in Dulwich, London and set up a showhome. Her open house events mixed midcentury and modern to wide acclaim and led to larger shows held at various buildings known for their midcentury and Brutalist architecture. She also hosts pop-ups for other dealers and designers, including London’s top design show Design Junction. Now co-owner of the hugely successful brand Modern Shows, Lucy writes for the blogs Inside Modernism and Destination Modernism and runs her house as a midcentury filming location.