“A lot of time, and a lot of thinking”
The Chair First Family
The First
First there was the Air-Chair—the original chair produced with the gas injection molding process that allowed for a continuous smooth surface over the entire piece of furniture. Magis followed that successful experiment with Chair First, which took the process one step farther. Thus, its name—the first example of a chair made with this advanced molding process.
In the mid-1990s, designer Stefano Giovannoni worked up a design for a chair made of two materials. Magis rejected the design in favor of a two-part chair made of steel. But eventually, that design was scrapped too—the chair was too heavy and too expensive to tool. Eventually, the decision was made to use an advanced version of the gas injection molding process to make the chair in plastic.
The first really three-dimensional
plastic chair.
- Stefano Giovannoni
Air Molding
In air molding, air is injected into the mold at a precise time, which reduces the volume of material used and the overall weight. The making of Chair First was the first time that air was used throughout the entire chair—including the seat and back—rather than just in the tubular sections. A cross-section of the chair would look like Swiss cheese, with small air pockets throughout.
Three-dimensional
While teaching at various universities, Giovannoni has advised student designers to focus on research and not settle for the easy solutions. “They need to find their own personal way of expressing their ideas, and that takes a lot of time and a lot of thinking,” he says. That’s exactly what Giovannoni—who also designed the Magis Bombo Stool—did in the long process that created the Chair First. He describes it as “the first really three-dimensional plastic chair.” Not only is it more three-dimensional, it’s also a more organic form and doesn’t have the structural elements that are visible in other plastic chairs.
