Plastic stacking chairs designed by Robin Day

The polypropylene stacking chair or polyprop is a

chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...

manufactured in an

injection moulding Injection moulding (U.S. spelling: injection molding) is a manufacturing process for producing parts by injecting molten material into a mould, or mold. Injection moulding can be performed with a host of materials mainly including metals (for ...

process using

polypropylene Polypropylene (PP), also known as polypropene, is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications. It is produced via chain-growth polymerization from the monomer propylene. Polypropylene belongs to the group of polyolefins and ...

. It was designed by

Robin Day Sir Robin Day (24 October 1923 – 6 August 2000) was an English political journalist and television and radio broadcaster. Day's obituary in ''The Guardian'' by Dick Taverne stated that he was "the most outstanding television journalist of ...

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 50 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 The Design Council, formerly the Council of Industrial Design, is a United Kingdom charity incorporated by Royal Charter. Its stated mission is "to champion great design that improves lives and makes things better". It was instrumental in the prom ...

) 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

, a lightweight thermoplastic with a high impact resistance. Polypropylene was invented by an Italian scientist,

Giulio Natta Giulio Natta (26 February 1903 – 2 May 1979) was an Italian chemical engineer and Nobel laureate. He won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1963 with Karl Ziegler for work on high polymers. He also received a Lomonosov Gold Medal in 1969. Biography ...

, in 1954. Examples of the 1973 polypropylene stacking chair can be seen at

Clifton Cathedral The Cathedral Church of SS. Peter and Paul is the Roman Catholic cathedral of the city of Bristol (not to be confused with the Church of England Bristol Cathedral). Located in the Clifton area of the city, it is the seat and mother church of the ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, where it is used for the

Nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and

Sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a saf ...

seating.

References

{{reflist

External links

*http://www.hille.co.uk/
Images of different models of the chair
from the Visual
Data Service (VADS).
Chairs Individual models of furniture Stacking chairs

See Also

References

External links