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Rethinking Sitting by Peter Opsvik
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Rethinking Sitting (edition 2009)

by Peter Opsvik (Author)

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For millions of years humans have led physically active lives. In recent centuries, however, industrialization has fostered passivity and the growing predominance of the sitting posture for more and more people. Increasingly, chairs and furniture for sitting have become standard pieces of equipment in the workplace, institutions, and private homes. These sitting devices were designed according to the established standard of the chair, based on the accepted western manner of sitting. In Rethinking Sitting, Scandinavian industrial designer Peter Opsvik addresses the issue of whether this is the only, and functionally best, design for the human body. When the various authorities on ergonomics promote their one and only "correct" sitting posture, he says all of them are right: Every recommended sitting posture is good. Opsvik sees it as his task to design chairs that allow as many different sitting postures as possible and make it easy to move and change frequently between positions. In this beautifully illustrated reference Opsvik offers insight into his thinking on the subject of sitting and explains the philosophy that informs his furniture designs. Rethinking Sitting contains important information for everyone who is interested, for professional, educational, or personal reasons, in sitting solutions.… (more)
Member:JayPerrine
Title:Rethinking Sitting
Authors:Peter Opsvik (Author)
Info:W. W. Norton & Company (2009), Edition: Illustrated, 208 pages
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Rethinking Sitting by Peter Opsvik

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The only bad thing I can stay about this book is that I often read it at the end of the day, when my back was hurting, which made Peter Opsvik's observations on the problems of modern seating seem like adding insult to injury.

Opsvik starts out with a number of premises, two of which I found very striking: one, that the human body was not made to sit with the thighs and back at a 90 degree angle (you end up flattening the lumbar curve), so the ideal chair will accommodate either leaning forward or leaning back and two, that the human body was not made to sit in one position for long, so the ideal chair is not one that creates one "perfect" posture, but one that allows for a variety of postures.

From these premises, he derives a number of different seating solutions ranging from hammock-like chairs suspended from the ceiling to a giant jungle of fabric covered round cushions.

Many individuals will find that Opsvik's designs are out of their price range. (Tripp Trapp, one of his best sellers, will set you back about $250, and it's a relatively simple model.) However, the book still provides plenty of food for thought. ( )
  Katya0133 | Oct 15, 2009 |
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For millions of years humans have led physically active lives. In recent centuries, however, industrialization has fostered passivity and the growing predominance of the sitting posture for more and more people. Increasingly, chairs and furniture for sitting have become standard pieces of equipment in the workplace, institutions, and private homes. These sitting devices were designed according to the established standard of the chair, based on the accepted western manner of sitting. In Rethinking Sitting, Scandinavian industrial designer Peter Opsvik addresses the issue of whether this is the only, and functionally best, design for the human body. When the various authorities on ergonomics promote their one and only "correct" sitting posture, he says all of them are right: Every recommended sitting posture is good. Opsvik sees it as his task to design chairs that allow as many different sitting postures as possible and make it easy to move and change frequently between positions. In this beautifully illustrated reference Opsvik offers insight into his thinking on the subject of sitting and explains the philosophy that informs his furniture designs. Rethinking Sitting contains important information for everyone who is interested, for professional, educational, or personal reasons, in sitting solutions.

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