A folding chair is a type of folding furniture, a light, portable chair that folds flat or to a smaller size.
Many modern styles of folding chairs can be stored in a stack, in a row, or on a cart. They may be combined with a folding table.
Folding chairs are generally used for seating in areas where permanent seating is not possible or practical. This includes outdoor and indoor events such as funerals, college graduations, religious services, and sporting events and competitions.
Folding chairs are used in the home for any situation requiring extra seating. This includes parties, card games, and temporary seating at the dinner table. It can be combined with a folding table.
Historically, folding chairs often were associated with providing an elevated seat for a high-status person among gatherings of folks sitting on the ground. Therefore, they often became a symbol for high-status.
Folding chairs or stools were used as seating in the Mediterranean area in the fifteenth–thirteenth century BC. [2] Folding chairs also were used as grave goods in the richest graves. A folding chair of ebony and ivory with gold fittings was found in Tutankhamun's tomb in Egypt.
Folding chairs were used in Ancient Egypt, Minoan Greece, and Ancient Rome, as well as during the Nordic Bronze Age and the Medieval Period. The frame was mostly made of wood, and seldom made of metal. The wood was inlaid with artistic carvings, gilded, and decorated with ivory. In Northern Europe, the remains of more than 18 folding chairs are known dating back to the Nordic Bronze Age. The Guldhøj chair, was found near Vamdrup, Denmark. [3] The ancient Daensen folding chair and another one dated to Medieval times in Endsee were found in graves in southeastern Germany. [4]
The folding chair became widespread during the Middle Ages. Folding chairs called faldstools were treasured as liturgical furniture pieces, used by bishops when not residing at their own cathedral.
In the United States, an early patent for a folding chair was by John Cram in 1855. [5] On July 7, 1911, Nathaniel Alexander patented a folding chair [6] whose main innovation was including a book rest. [7] In 1947, Fredric Arnold created the first aluminum folding chair with fabric strapping for the seat and back. By 1957, the Fredric Arnold Company of Brooklyn, New York, was manufacturing more than 14,000 chairs per day. In 2024, folding chairs often are made of hard plastic, metal, or wood.
Folding chairs typically weigh from 2 to 5 kilograms (4.4 to 11.0 pounds ) and are produced in a variety of styles, folding mechanisms, and materials.
A common form of folding chair is often referred to as a lawn chair. It typically consists of a collapsible frame with a fabric covering. They often are used outdoors at sporting events and parks.
Folding chair legs can pivot to fold either under the seat, or at the seat.
Most folding chairs pivot at the seat level. The seat aligns between the back supports. The back support and the front legs are the same part. There are, however, several designs that fold under the seat. Side-X stools consist of two X-shaped pieces with a sheet of cloth between them that becomes the seat. Front-X chairs are similar to side-X stools, but have the addition of a backrest. Side-X chairs are unique because the support for the backrest and front foot is the same part. The seat is collapsed to align between the sidebars, either down between the front legs, or up to align between back-sidebars. Mechanisms vary, but the supports for the back and the front feet are invariably the same part.
 |
Prices and quality can be roughly divided into four categories, and are largely the same as for stacking chairs:
This light and inexpensive furniture is usually made from steel tubing, with a plastic seat and backrest. This style is very common in homes, churches, schools, and community events.
These are sturdy and a greater variety in styles and materials. They are typically not upholstered. They cost from approximately $25 apiece (2008). Their primary use is seating for large arenas, outdoor or places of worship, but also cafes and brasseries.
These folding chairs are often reinforced multiply and come with padded seats and backrest. These are mainly sold for sporting events. The seat is sometimes made to fall backward so that it stands upright, making rainwater run off the upholstered seat.
Folding chairs in this category cost upwards of $150 apiece. The reason for the high pricing is because of the more expensive materials used which may mean some are They may be upholstered. [8]
Specifically modified and lighter folding chairs are used as weapons in professional wrestling. The investigation into Chris Benoit's death cited chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is often caused by chair shots to the head and other related concussions as a leading cause of his symptoms. Chair shots to the head are now banned in the WWE and All Elite Wrestling, and the use of chairs was reduced to prevent injury. [9]
Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating, eating (tables), storing items, working, and sleeping. Furniture is also used to hold objects at a convenient height for work, or to store things. Furniture can be a product of design and can be considered a form of decorative art. In addition to furniture's functional role, it can serve a symbolic or religious purpose. It can be made from a vast multitude of materials, including metal, plastic, and wood. Furniture can be made using a variety of woodworking joints which often reflects the local culture.
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. It may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in various colors and fabrics.
A couch, also known as a sofa, settee, chesterfield, or davenport, is a cushioned item of furniture that can seat multiple people. It is commonly found in the form of a bench with upholstered armrests and is often fitted with springs and tailored cushion and pillows. Although a couch is used primarily for seating, it may be used for sleeping. In homes, couches are normally put in the family room, living room, den, or lounge. They are sometimes also found in non-residential settings such as hotels, lobbies of commercial offices, waiting rooms, and bars. Couches can also vary in size, color, and design.
Upholstery is the work of providing furniture, especially seats, with padding, springs, webbing, and fabric or leather covers. The word also refers to the materials used to upholster something.
A car seat is a seat used in automobiles. Most car seats are made from inexpensive but durable material in order to withstand prolonged use. The most common material is polyester.
Faldstool is a portable folding chair, used by a bishop when not occupying the throne in his own cathedral, or when officiating in a cathedral or church other than his own; hence any movable folding stool used during divine service.
Wicker is a method of weaving used to make products such as furniture and baskets, as well as a descriptor to classify such products. It is the oldest furniture making method known to history, dating as far back as c. 3000 BC. Wicker was first documented in ancient Egypt, then having been made from pliable plant material, but in modern times it is made from any pliable, easily woven material. The word wicker or "wisker" is believed to be of Scandinavian origin: vika, which means "to fold" in Swedish. Wicker is traditionally made of material of plant origin, such as willow, rattan, reed, and bamboo, though the term also applies to products woven from synthetic fibers. Wicker is light yet sturdy, making it suitable for items that will be moved often like porch and patio furniture. Rushwork and wickerwork are terms used in England. A typical braiding pattern is called Wiener Geflecht, Viennese Braiding, as it was invented in 18th century Vienna and later most prominently used with the Thonet coffeehouse chair.
A curule seat is a design of a (usually) foldable and transportable chair noted for its uses in Ancient Rome and Europe through to the 20th century. Its status in early Rome as a symbol of political or military power carried over to other civilizations, as it was also used in this capacity by kings in Europe, Napoleon, and others.
An X-chair is a chair with an X-shaped frame. It was known to have been used in Ancient Egypt, Rome, and Greece. The Christian faldstool is a type of X-chair.
A deckchair is a folding chair, usually with a frame of treated wood or other material. The term now usually denotes a portable folding chair, with a single strip of fabric or vinyl forming the backrest and seat. It is meant for leisure, originally on the deck of an ocean liner or cruise ship. It is easily transportable and stackable, although some styles are notoriously difficult to fold and unfold. Different versions may have an extended seat, meant to be used as a leg rest, whose height may be adjustable; and may also have arm rests.
A Strandkorb is a special hooded windbreak seating furniture used at vacation and seaside resorts, constructed from wicker, wood panels and canvas, usually seating up to two people, with reclining backrests. It was designed to provide comfort seating and shelter from wind, rain, sand gusts and sunburn on beach seafront resorts frequented by tourists. Other built-in details, like extendable footrests, sun awning, side folding tables and storage space, provide the user with several comforts.
A recliner is an armchair or sofa that reclines when the occupant lowers the chair's back and raises its front. It has a backrest that can be tilted back, and often a footrest that may be extended by means of a lever on the side of the chair, or may extend automatically when the back is reclined.
A close stool was an early type of portable toilet, made in the shape of a cabinet or box at sitting height with an opening in the top. The external structure contained a pewter or earthenware chamberpot to receive the user's excrement and urine when they sat on it; this was normally covered (closed) by a folding lid. "Stool" has two relevant meanings: as a type of seat and as human feces. Close stools were used from the Middle Ages until the introduction of the indoor flush toilet.
A stool is a raised seat commonly supported by three or four legs, but with neither armrests nor a backrest, and typically built to accommodate one occupant. As some of the earliest forms of seat, stools are sometimes called backless chairs despite how some modern stools have backrests. Folding stools can be collapsed into a flat, compact form typically by rotating the seat in parallel with fold-up legs.
Grete Juel Jalk was a Danish furniture designer. From the 1960s, she did much to enhance Denmark's reputation for modern furniture design with her clear, comfortable lines. She also edited the Danish magazine Mobilia and compiled a four-volume work on Danish furniture.
The Daensen folding chair consists of the metallic remains of a folding chair that were discovered in 1899 in sand from a Bronze Age tumulus near Daensen, a part of Buxtehude, Lower Saxony, Germany. At the time, the chair was the southernmost and most richly decorated example of the eighteen known folding chairs of the Nordic Bronze Age in Northern Europe. The fittings, along with a reconstruction, are in the permanent exhibition of the Archaeological Museum Hamburg in Harburg, Hamburg.
Molded plywood is the term for two- or three-dimensionally shaped products from multiple veneer layers that are glued together through heat and pressure in a pressing tool. The veneer layers are arranged crosswise at an angle of 90 degrees. Molded wood is used for flat furniture components such as seats, backrests and seat shells. When the veneer layers are arranged in the same direction, it is called laminated wood. It is used for armrests and chair frames. After pressing, the blanks are processed mechanically. A particular feature is the ability to produce different variations of shapes from the blanks. Due to its immense strength and low weight, molded wood is particularly suitable for interior decoration, seating furniture, bed slats, skateboards and vehicle construction.
The Round Chair is an armchair designed by Hans Wegner in 1949. The chair was a collaboration of Wegner and the now-defunct furniture maker Johannes Hansen. It is still in production today by the Danish furniture manufacturer PP Møbler.
Rowac was a hardware factory founded by Carl Robert Wagner in 1888 in Chemnitz, Germany which most notably produced furniture for industrial use. Carl Robert Wagner is regarded as the inventor of the steel stool, which among other things was chosen for the workshops and classrooms of the Bauhaus Dessau. Today, mainly stools, chairs and cabinets carrying the Rowac name are traded as antiques.