There are way too many chairs in my life. I’m sort of obsessed with them.
When I look at chairs, I see types of people. Not necessarily the people who would sit on them, but actual personalities. That’s why I can’t leave a decent chair that’s been put in the alley. It’s like a lonely soul sitting there waiting to be saved. I used to feel that way when I saw good shoes in the alley, but I don’t see them much anymore, and usually people take them immediately.
Not so with chairs. Cast off chairs are headed for – who knows where?
But many of them have ended up on my cabin porch with a new coat of paint!
Several years ago I inherited a few Barbara Barry chairs from my husband’s office when we remodeled. 
Yes, they’re office chairs, but they seem right at home in our living room. When I look at them, I see an older European fellow who wears horned-rim glasses. He adds to our social gatherings with wit and thoughtful reflections. And he’s also extremely well-mannered.
Am I in need of a therapist? Perhaps. But let’s keep playing this game, because I’m enjoying it.
I recently purchased new dining room chairs at Design Within Reach. In their chair gallery, I felt like I had an audience of chairs. Some were calling out softly, some with a baudiness I couldn’t tolerate. And then I spotted the Prouvé Standard Chair. 
The jokester of my dreams! In black and Japanese red, this chair looks like a vintage harlequin that has been dusted off and shined up. Angled, clever, hard-edged with a few casual silver buttons! And six of them around my table make me happy.
For the host chairs, I introduced myself to the leather Bottega Side Chairs in black leather. They’re the serious disciplinarians in the dining room, keeping all those Prouvés in line…sturdy, silent, and heavy.
When I pull the dining room group into the living room for bigger gatherings, I hear a wonderful cacophony of accents and opinions – from the chairs, I mean!
Let’s look at a few more chairs, just for fun.
One of the earliest chairs ever recorded is the klismos.
Such an ancient woman. Buxom, with lots of curves, and she lets you know she doesn’t suffer fools. I fell in love with her long history, and fortunately found a klismos stool at a house sale to put in my living room. She enjoys holding art books and occasionally filling in as an extra guest.
And this little sweetheart had been jilted and left on the front porch of an old farm house. 
Totally out of her element – she needed a couture cushion and a quiet corner in my living room to feel at home. She now calms the tribal elements next to her with her elegance and perspective…
I recently purchased “Chairs by Architects,” a book by Agata Toromanoff, who reminds us of the greatest chair designs of our century. 
Why is it that so many important architects wanted to have a chair in their portfolio? I think they were drawn to the humanness of the chairs, a trait that isn’t as easy to find in a building.
Some of these famous chairs are constantly reproduced and reintroduced because, I think, they are like historical figures. They remind us of times in design that were especially significant, and are the voices of their times (Also, they are easier to live with than many real people!)
These chairs, b.1944, by Dorian and Massimiliano Fukasas, are a sensual couple that doesn’t work, lives on martinis, and wouldn’t dream of exercising.
This Gerrit Rietveld chair (Red Blue Chair, 1917) looks like a transformer hiding a friendly wing chair personality.
Alvar Aalto’s No. 41 Lounge Chair, 1929, is everyone’s lanky, geeky cousin who is an engineer and a little anti-social.
The Ralph Pucci chair, 2016 – no doubt, she’s a voluptuous woman whose heels are killing her!
I could go on and on. Chairs. They’re everywhere – and everyone! – if you just start to notice the personality in each of them and the energy they project in our interiors.
Take an extra moment to pull up a chair and get acquainted.
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