Guhl Chair

Willy Guhl (1915–2004) founded the first Swiss course of studies in product design at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich (today ZHdK). He taught for thirty years while also designing products for industry on a regular basis. The Garden Chair is made of a machine-made Eternit mat that, before hardening, can be formed into a loop in a wooden mold without any scrap from trimming. Guhl had already determined the ergonomically correct seat profile with the help of his brother in 1947 using impressions in clay made by sitting test persons, which were then cast in plaster. Like a sculptor, Guhl then reworked the radii of the seating loop, always with a mind to economy of production and the structural and material requirements of asbestos cement. Since the same shape made of asbestos-free fiber cement can’t support enough weight, Guhl revised the Garden Chair in 1997. Larger radii and two reinforcing corrugations in the backrest give the loop the necessary stability.