Bruno Munari was a genius.This visionary Italian designer was, in particular, the author of an essay well swarmed around ... comfort.His text, published in the famous Revue d'Architecture Transalpine Domus (n ° 202, October 1944) was entitled with irony: "We go home tired of having worked all day and we find an uncomfortable chair".His lucid words, a bit provocative to his peers, castigated just as much (and already!) The overproduction of furniture as the little comfort that.The said text was, moreover, illustrated by a hilarious photographic campaign, which has since become legendary.We see this famous "worker", trying by all means to find, in said chair, a position that is a little pleasant, in order to read his newspaper there, if not to doze there: the legs in the air crossedOn the file, seated upside down, at caliphon on the headrest, even on the overturned chair, etc..In vain.The man will end up falling asleep with his twisted head, a leg folded under him, in a most uncomfortable position.
If it is a factor which, in the furniture department, turns out to be complex to understand, is that of comfort.An oh so sensitive and fluctuating area, and a notion of the least rational and most subjective.It is not easy therefore, for these designers capable of augur our future well-being to grant said subject in complete serenity."There is no recipe or rule," admits designer Patrick Norguet.Comfort is a complex set of data that takes into account not only use, shape, color, material, functionality and ergonomics, but also health or a more subjective concept like pleasure.Offer comfort is relieving the body.»»
"On the one hand, there is a battery of standards - lengths, widths, heights ... -, on the other, this more sensitive register of the feeling and it's always up to us to find the right compromise between the two, adds his colleague Patrick Jouin.It will never be perfectly comfortable for everyone, but it's like a pair of shoes: there will be a difference between the one you buy in the trade and the one you are tailor -made.»»
Some have tried to quantify the various factors that could contribute to this comfort.This is the case of Soizick Berthelot, ergonomist and manager of the ergonomics studio, in Paris."Defining comfort is not simple," she confirms. Afin d'objectiver cette notion, nous avons mis en place, outre la fonctionnalité, une dizaine de critères, tels le contact - trop ferme ou trop souple -, la posture du corps humain, la thermique - échange de température entre le produit et le corps -, les matériaux - non-allergisants -, le sensoriel - qui touche aux cinq sens, comme le confort haptique -, ou l'environnement - la lumière, la température, le bruit, le taux d'hygrométrie de l'air…»»
But the equation is not easy, because the comfort also varies depending on time and space. Ainsi, certains sièges issus du Bauhaus ne sont pas vraiment confortables, mais peut-être le furent-ils en leur temps, au début du siècle précédent ? De même qu'une assise en tube métallique ou moulée en fibre de verre aurait assurément paru incongrue dans un XVIIIe siècle au mobilier capitonné. À l'inverse, un fauteuil « mou»» - on pense au fameux P100 façon gant de baseball du trio de Lomazzi-D'Urbino-De Pas pour Poltronova - aurait paru étrange aux générations antérieures.And what about the current furniture which, for sure, will appear curious, even uncomfortable in a few decades?
Each era therefore cultivates its own comfort of comfort.In addition, depending on the place where we live on the planet, said comfort differs.Westerners remain skeptical at the sight of wooden headrests of sub-Saharan Africa or how the Japanese sit crossed in the tatami."Take, for example, bedding," says Soizick Berthelot, Japan, a mattress will rarely exceed 15 cm thick, while in the United States, it will be at least 40 cm.»» « En dehors de la notion de prix, il n'y a pas de goût universel.So there is not 'comfort, but' comforts, observes Michel Roset, president of the Roset group, who owns the Cinna and Roset brands.An example: the Roset line export percentage is 70 %, which encourages us to take into account the socio -cultural parameters specific to each country.A European, a fortiori an urban, will be less able, today, to accept furniture with too large dimensions.Conversely, China, Russia or the United States, they are constantly demanding more typologies.»»
Apart from this socio -cultural aspect, the human body, too, has its requirements."Regarding dimensional comfort, we work from anthropometric databases and scientific studies and we can see today that the population has grown a lot, but also a lot of gross," emphasizes Soizick Berthelot.On June 30, the league against obesity published the results of a national survey which shows that around 8.5 million adults in France - or 17 % of the population - have a higher body mass index than30 (beyond which we are talking about obesity, editor's note), against 15 % in 2012.In total, almost one in two French people is either overweight, or in obesity.However, as surprising as it may seem, the standard width of a double bed is always ... 140 cm.It's completely insufficient.She should have increased to 160 cm, or even 180 cm for a long time.See today as we are very badly seated in the chairs of the Garnier Opera, as they are small.»»
Clearly, comfort is fatally multiple. Si le minimalisme des années 1980 avait mis de côté le confort au profit de la forme, la période « hippie»» du tournant des années 1960, puis les années 1970, chères à la « génération vautrée»», a produit quelques perles : « Pour moi, les deux icônes du confort restent le canapé Togo de Michel Ducaroy chez Ligne Roset et le canapé Maralunga de Vico Magistretti chez Cassina, deux immenses succès, tous deux sortis en 1973 et toujours édités depuis. Bien sûr, ils ont un peu vieilli, mais voilà, c'est plutôt là que j'ai envie de passer du temps, point barre !»», sourit Patrick Jouin. Autre best-seller de l'époque : le canapé-lit Gao du duo Laloy et Ponthus pour Cinna, en 1976, illico baptisé « clic-clac»»."François Mitterrand had bought two, one for the rue de Bièvre, another for Latché," recalls Michel Roset.But we were then stretched by mass distribution, which flooded the market with models of less good quality.»»
Anyway, it seems that an ideal posture was found: "The best angle between the bust and the legs is 127 °, with a correction of + or - 2 °, specifies Soizick Berthelot.It is, in reality, the angle which generates the least vertebral cups and the least ligament stretching, that which we recommended to Air France for the seats of his premium class and that adopted by Thomas Pesquet in weightlessnessin the international space station.This 127 ° angle is also that of the famous lc4 long chair by Charlotte Perriand.»» Ouf ! On s'en approche.
Except that the comfort also varies at the moment T: the morning that will probably not be the same as that required in the evening ... "I do not work on the scale of the object, but all around," explains the designer MataliCrasset.Feeling too comfortable is for me a problem.With successive confinements, we noticed the limits of the 'fireplace': it led us to a 'passive comfort', but to become sensitive again, we need an active comfort ', to get out of soundCocoon precisely.Having a choice of possible situations, being able to reconfigure your space according to the moments of the day, appropriate it, be active at home, that's a comfort.The house must be an ecosystem, a withdrawal area, but not to stagnate, to help to project itself towards the future.»»
The ideal Sunday of Matali Crossat
And the designer to advance an example among others: “I drew the double side chair for Danese, whose file can be transformed into a provisional tablet, says Matali Crossat.Suddenly, to sit, it becomes less comfortable, because we find ourselves on a stool.I do not advocate discomfort, but another type of comfort.Concretely, I removed the comfort of the seat, but brought in place another comfort, that of a possible activity - eat or check your emails on its computer -, a new 'place' where wecan concentrate for a few moments in the flow of a general activity. L'idée est d'avoir une structure suffisamment flexible pour pouvoir accueillir ce qui pourrait advenir…»» Dont acte !
Would comfort be in the end only a construction of the mind?An aesthetically remarkable but uncomfortable seat - we think of the red and blue chair of Gerrit Rietveld - will be able to satisfy the eye and generate visual comfort, while, in contrast, a fundamentally ugly armchair will be able to prove to be extremely comfortable.Which of the two will he generate the greatest comfort?Impossible to say."I drew, last year, the Dan chair for the Italian firm Zanotta," says Patrick Norguet.At first glance, with its metal structure and straps, it could seem rigid, even hard.However, once seated, it adapts perfectly to your body and provides extreme comfort.»» Bref, le mystère du confort reste entier.
