Don Chadwick

Donald "Don" T. Chadwick^[1] (born 1936) is an American industrial designer specializing in office seating.

Early life

He was born in Los Angeles and developed an interest in furniture making from his grandfather, a cabinetmaker.^[2] He studied design at the University of California, Los Angeles.^[3]

Career

He worked for architect Victor Gruen, and in 1964 founded his own practice. As a young designer Chadwick gained recognition for his entries in the Pasadena Art Museum's California Design exhibitions.^[4] His 1968 prototype for cardboard furniture predates the easy edges cardboard furniture by Frank Gehry.^[4] He has designed the Chadwick modular seating system (1974) and, in cooperation with Bill Stumpf, the Equa 1 (1984) and the Aeron chair (1994), all for Herman Miller.^[3][5] Among his recent designs is the Chadwick chair and Spark chair for Knoll, and Ballo for Human Scale.

Publications

• Friedman, Mildred, Ed. A Serious Chair — Design Quarterly 126. Minneapolis and Cambridge: The Walker Art Center and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1984. ISSN 0011-9415
• Olivares, Jonathan, Ed. Don Chadwick Photography 1961–2005. Barcelona: Apartamento Publishing S.L., 2019 ISBN 978-84-09-11610-2
• Amy Auscherman, Sam Gawe, Leon Ransmeier, Eds. "Ergon Chairs 1976" in Herman Miller: A Way of Living. London: Phaidon Press, 2019. 460–481 ISBN 9780714875217