Wharton Esherick and the Armstrong Linoleum Company | Hacker News Reader

Wharton Esherick and the Armstrong Linoleum Company

whartonesherickmuseum.org

25 pointsthomasjb6 comments

If you're in the Philadelphia area, I highly suggest checking out the Wharton Esherick museum. The PMA has an impressive Esherick fireplace [0], too (among a lot of other impressive art!). If you're interested in beautiful, hand crafted furnishings, you can also hit up the Nakashima workshop and Bertoia studio as well.

Anyway, the story about the woman looking for the stool in the ad reminds me of a similar issue my mom had with an ad. She was given an ad for Wayfair featuring a particular end table. She clicked on it expecting to go right to the product page for that end table. However, it just went straight to the home page and after both of looked, that end table appeared to simply not be for sale by Wayfair. They lost a customer that day.

I'm also frustrated when a rug or lighting company sends me an ad where they have all this beautiful furniture in the ad (that they don't sell) and, after clicking through, I realize their products were what seemed like the set dressing of the ad. I guess I get that if your products aren't good enough, put them next to something nice in an ad, but it doesn't put me in the mood to buy anything.

0 - https://philamuseum.org/collection/object/84555

I think this probably has a name, but I didn’t study merchandising or industrial psychology so I don’t know what it is in this context. It reminds me of the cheerleader effect, though.

From the "Armstrong spread in Ladies Home Journal" copy in TFA:

> Below the hefty, vinyl wear surface is a foamed vinyl backing called Cushioncord. Because this backing "gives" under pressure, Cushioned Coronelle is quieter, warmer, and more comfortable to walk on.

The description and the photo instantly took me back to my grandmother's kitchen, that little bit of squish as you head to the fridge.

The staircase in his studio is impressive[0], completely changed how I looked at wood and wood working. Love that little chair under it, for years I have tried to design a chair based on its basic structure but have never managed to come up with anything I am happy with. He played with that structure a fair amount but the others always looked off to me.

[0]https://whartonesherickmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04...

Perhaps it is stashed in a location where it can't be used because it is ergonomically terrible? (Appears so to me at least.) And for the same reason you have not been able to come up with a satisfactory variation.

* Leg corners extending above the seat are suspect

* Narrowing back is the opposite of how most chairs get wider towards the top, where you actually need the support.

* Back appears to angle back too much.

* Reclining is going to generate shear force on the T joint at the bottom of the back sticks...not optimal. Also you are going to get some crazy forces on the mid-joint of the back sticks.

I conclude: it is just for looking at.

Chair backs serve purposes other than reclining against and many are designed with their primary purpose to be something other than reclining. Dining chairs are a good example and historically we see a great many classic designs which are very uncomfortable if you recline into the back; backs on dining chairs were often intended as a handle to make it easier to pull out and push back in from the table and you are supposed to sit on them more as you would a stool.

It is actually a fairly comfortable chair, I built a quick copy years ago just so I could see it in person and get a better feel for the design. Even when made out of scrap low grade pine it held up quite well and was my desk chair until the canvas I used for the seat started to sag too much and did not seem worth replacing since that cheap pine was eventually going to fail. The stresses in the chair are well thought out and will be long lasting if made from a suitable wood.

Not sure why you think the chair can not be used in that location, looks like a great place to stop for a think.

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