40/4 Chair

The frame of the chair is made of 7/16" solid steel rod. The seat and back are formed sheet metal with 3/16" rolled edges and coated in vinyl.{{cite journal|last1=J.|first1=W.|title=David Rowland's 40/4 Chair|journal=Interiors Magazine|date=June 1964|page=102}} Some models substitute wood veneers, plastic resin and upholstery over wood as components.{{cite web |url=https://www.howe.com/us/products/404#thefamily|title=40/4: The Family |date=23 September 2015 |publisher=Howe |access-date=March 19, 2018}}

Chairs can be stacked on specially designed dollies for storage and movement.{{cite book|last1=Meadmore|first1=Clement|title=The Modern Chair: Classics in Production|date=1975|publisher=Van Nostrand Reinhold Co.|location=New York|isbn=0442253052|pages=[https://archive.org/details/modernchairclass0000mead_z4h1/page/136 136–138]|url=https://archive.org/details/modernchairclass0000mead_z4h1/page/136}} Various configurations allow the chairs to be stacked in a number of ways while striving to minimize the floor space utilized.{{cite book|title=Howe Collection|last1=Howe a/s|date=2015|publisher=Howe a/s|location=Denmark|pages=11, 14–31}}

In 2004 Rowland worked with Howe a/s to introduce an expanded family of the 40/4 chair.

File:40 4 quad gang stack.jpg

File:40 4 swivel chair david rowland.png

File:40 4 stack barstool david rowland 250.png

Rowland developed the 40/4 chair over a period of 8 years. In 1963 he was awarded a patent for the chair's design.{{cite patent|inventor1-last = Rowland | inventor1-first = David | title = Compactly Stackable Chair | issue-date = March 5, 1963 | patent-number = 3080194 | country-code = US }}{{cite patent|inventor1-last = Rowland | inventor1-first = David | title = Compactly Stackable Chair | issue-date = September 27, 1966 | patent-number = 3275371 | country-code = US }}{{cite patent|inventor1-last = Rowland | inventor1-first = David | title = Compactly Stackable Chairs and Chair-Rows | issue-date = October 11, 1966 | patent-number = 3278227 | country-code = US }}{{cite patent|inventor1-last = Rowland | inventor1-first = David | title = Dolly for Stacking Chairs | issue-date = April 29, 1967 | patent-number = 3338591 | country-code = US }}{{cite patent|inventor1-last = Rowland | inventor1-first = David | title = Compactly Stackable Chair | issue-date = October 8, 1968 | patent-number = 3404916 | country-code = US }}{{cite patent|inventor1-last = Rowland | inventor1-first = David | title = Nested Armchair | issue-date = May 27, 1969 | patent-number = 3446530 | country-code = US }}

Initially, Rowland showed the chair to many companies in an effort to license the design. In 1961, Florence Knoll licensed the chair for her company, Knoll Associates, however canceled a license after six months. Rowland later showed the chair to Davis Allen, head of interior design at the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). Allen requested 17,000 chairs for the a campus SOM was designing for the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). To fulfill the request, Rowland licensed the design to General Fireproofing Co. (GF) in Youngstown, Ohio.{{cite journal|last1=Von|first1=Robinson|title=99% Perspiration|journal=Metropolis|date=December 2004|page=149}}{{cite web|url=https://uicarchives.library.uic.edu/40-4Chair|title=40/4 Chair|publisher=University Library, University of Illinois at Chicago|access-date=March 19, 2018|archive-date=December 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171209185731/http://uicarchives.library.uic.edu/40-4Chair|url-status=dead}} In May 1965, while the first order for was still being produced, 250 chairs were hand assembled and installed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City for the opening of its new wing.

The 40/4 was an immediate success. It won the grand prize at the prestigious 13th Milan Triennale,{{Cite journal|last=Hevesi|first=Dennis|date=August 25, 2010|title=David Rowland, Maker of a Tidily Stacked Chair, Dies at 86|journal=The New York Times|pages=B12}} and has been included in museum collections and exhibitions internationally.

In the book the Modern Chair, Clement Meadmore described the chair as having "beautiful simplicity and total appropriateness." 2500 of the chairs were installed in St. Paul's Cathedral in London in 1973, site of Prince Charles and Princess Diana's wedding, and remain in use. In 2001, it was named #1 of "The Top 10 Commercial Interiors products of the Past 50 Years" by Contract Design Magazine.{{cite journal|journal=Contract Design Magazine|date=March 2010|page=22|title=The Top 10 Commercial Interiors Products of the Past 50 Years}}

The chair has been in continuous production since its introduction and has sold over 8 million units.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/designinamericac0000unse/page/129|title=Design in America : the Cranbrook vision, 1925-1950|date=1983|publisher=Abrams, in association with the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Metropolitan Museum of Art |chapter=Interior Design and Furniture |author=R. Craig Miller |isbn=0810908018|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/designinamericac0000unse/page/129 129]|oclc=9393845}}{{Citation|title="40/4" side chair|date=1960|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/486991|access-date=2018-04-10}}

General Fireproofing held the license for the chair from 1963 until 2002 when the company was taken over by OSI Furniture LLC.{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}} In 2013, Howe Europe, (now Howe a/s), of Denmark, which had had a sublicense to the chair in Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Asia (except for Indonesia) acquired the license for the 40/4 in the United States and Canada.{{Cite news|url=http://www.interiordesign.net/articles/8131-danish-brand-howe-relaunches-in-the-us-market/|title=Danish Brand Howe Relaunches in the U.S. Market|date=2014-01-28|work=Interior Design|access-date=2018-04-10|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.howe.com/us/file/728/download?token=-eBm9qcm|title=David Rowland - introduction|date=April 20, 2018|website=Howe a/s|access-date=April 10, 2018|archive-date=July 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160706155154/http://www.howe.com/us/file/728/download?token=-eBm9qcm|url-status=dead}} In Indonesia, PT. Indovickers Furnitama holds the license, and also produces the 40/4 in a rattan version.{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}}

• Grand Prize at the 13th Triennale in Milan, Italy, 1964Staff. [https://www.nytimes.com/1964/09/26/archives/us-exhibit-takes-top-prize-in-milan.html "U.S. Exhibit Takes Top Prize in Milan"], The New York Times, September 26, 1964. Accessed August 26, 2010.
• International Design Award, American Institute of Interior Designers (A.I.D.), 1965{{cite news|title= A.I.D. Gives Awards to 14 Designs|work=New York Times|date=Jan 4, 1965}}
• Master Design Award from Product Engineering Magazine, 1965{{cite news|title=New Fashions That Sit Well|work=Houston Chronicle|date=May 27, 1965}}
• Gold Medal Award for Furniture from the Austrian Government, 1968{{cite news|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/1988/1006/hchair.html/(page)/2|title=Stackable Chair|last=Rowland|first=David|date=October 6, 1988|work=Christian Science Monitor|access-date=April 11, 2018}}
• Industrial Design Award, International Biennial Exhibition, Rio de Janeiro, 1968
• Design in America: The Cranbrook Vision 1925–1950 exhibition, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1984{{cite book|title=Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in New York|date=1983|publisher=Harry N. Abrams Publishers|location=New York|isbn=0810908018|pages=[https://archive.org/details/designinamericac0000unse/page/129 129]|url=https://archive.org/details/designinamericac0000unse/page/129}}
• "The Modern Chair" exhibition, The Art Institute, Chicago, Illinois{{Cite news|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-art-institute-architecture-exhibition-kamin-0828-20160826-column.html|title=A small show about chairs hints at larger design ambitions at the Art Institute|last=Kamin|first=Blair|work=chicagotribune.com|access-date=2018-04-10|language=en-US}}
• "Please Be Seated" exhibition, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.{{Cite book|title=Please Be Seated; the evolution of the chair, 2000 BC-2000AD|last=Schwartz|first=Marvin D.|publisher=American Federation of Arts|year=1968|location=New York|pages=52}}
• U.S. Industrial Design exhibit at XIX Olympiad Games, Mexico City
• Dimensions of Design exhibition - 100 Classical Seats, Vitra Design Museum{{Cite book|title=Dimensions of Design - 100 Classical Seats|last=Vegesack|first=Alexander von|publisher=Vitra Design Museum|year=1997|pages=70}}
• The Product of Design exhibition Katonah Gallery, Westchester, New York{{Cite journal|last=Harrison|first=Helen A.|date=December 20, 1987|title=How 60 Designs Came to Be|journal=The New York Times|pages=299 (page 28 LI Art Section)}}
• Number 1 of The Top 10 Commercial Interiors Products of the Past 50 Years, Contract Magazine, 2010

• The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, New York{{Cite web|url=https://www.moma.org/collection/works/3060|title=David Rowland. 40/4 Stacking Chair. 1964 | MoMA|website=The Museum of Modern Art}}
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York{{Cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/486991?sortBy=Relevance&ft=David+Rowland&offset=0&rpp=20&pos=1|title=David Rowland | "40/4" side chair|website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art}}
• The Palais du Louvre, Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, France{{cite book|title=Les Assises Du Siege Contemporain|date=1968|publisher=Musee des Arts Decoratifs|pages=106}}
• The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England{{Cite web|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O372085/chair/|title=Chair|date=August 11, 1964|via=Victoria & Albert Museum}}
• The Design Museum, London, England{{Cite web|url=https://designmuseum.org/design/chairs-1960s|title=Chairs - 1960s|website=Design Museum}}
• The University of Dundee Museum, Dundee, Scotland{{Cite web|url=https://www.dundee.ac.uk/museum/collections/design/#88831|title=Design Chair Collection : Museum : University of Dundee|last=Dundee|first=University of|website=www.dundee.ac.uk|language=en|access-date=2018-04-13}}
• Die Neue Sammlung, Munich, Germany{{cite book|title=David Rowland 40/4|date=2011|publisher=Howe a/s|pages=36}}
• The Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois[http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/24629?search_no=3&index=1 The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois]
• The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania{{Cite web|url=https://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/152706.html?mulR=1814824038|title="40-in-4" Stacking Chair|website=philamuseum.org}}
• Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
• Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Montreal, Canada

• David Rowland
• Industrial Design

{{Reflist}}

• [https://davidrowland.design/ David Rowland Official Website]
• [https://www.howe.com/us/products/404#installations Howe's Website for the 40/4 Chair]

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Category:History of furniture

Category:Chairs

Category:Modernism

Category:Individual models of furniture

Category:Stacking chairs

Category:Collection of the Museum of Modern Art (New York City)