...a chair must be really important as an object because my mother taught me always to offer a lady my chair if there weren't enough around, and it can’t be just a question of ovaries or other delicate organs of the female anatomy, which they say go to pot if a lady remains standing.
it happens that even if a room is packed with empty chairs, a gentleman is supposed to stand up if a lady enters, i mean to honor her, the lady. what i mean is that to honor a lady a man must detach himself from his chair. he must abandon the chair, show that he is chair-stripped, unseated, chair-less, defenseless - otherwise things aren’t on an even footing.
sottsass on the metaphors of the chair from ettore sottsass - design metaphors
photo by j. emilio flores from ny times
CHAIR-LESS
