Jindřich Halabala not only managed the design studio of Czech furniture manufacturer Spojené uměleckoprůmyslové závody, but also created some of his own designs for production. He became famous for his tubular steel chairs without front legs, with and without arms, like the H-79 model shown here. The closed lines of the chair are determined by a zig-zag tubular steel structure as seen from the side angle. This solution achieves double bounce, and requires extreme curvature of the tubular steel beneath the seat. This curvature sometimes led to cracks in the steel over time. It is likely that the lateral pressure exerted by the crossbar in the second third of the diagonal also caused problems. As the complicated tubular steel shape was time-consuming to produce, this principle was applied very rarely.
Text: Otakar Máčel / Barbara M. Eggert
