The design approach of historical product stimulation in modern chair design - Japanese designers' views on this approach

Background Existing products can be seen as stimuli to generate modern design, and historical stimuli can serve as inspiration for famous modern chairs. The designers of these modern chairs referred to the main features of historical chairs to create modern versions of the chairs. But it is not clearly known how and why modern chair designers launched this design approach and whether it has practical value. To explore these issues, this article analyzed eleven famous modern chairs by Japanese designers. Methods First, a literature review was conducted and eleven famous modern chairs were selected. Second, a qualitative investigation of interviews with professional Japanese designers was carried out. Third, a quantitative investigation was carried out via questionnaires given to the same Japanese designers. Results Japanese designers thought that there were five decisive reasons to affect the historical chair stimulation design approach. They were technique (materials and manufacture), ergonomics(high-precision ergonomics), culture (aesthetic popularity), marketing (customer motivation), and space (environment harmonization). Meanwhile, Japanese designers were in favor of using the backrests of historical Scandinavian and German chairs as main reference simulation. Conclusions Modern design stimulated by historical existing products is highlighted by many studies for positive benefits. Technique, culture, ergonomics, marketing and space are the five factors that can be viewed as driving forces for the design of modern chairs stimulated by historical chairs. This design approach value is characterized by the reference to historical features for the aim of promoting diverse modern design culture.