I said Louie Louie, oh baby
We gotta go
(Okay okay … I’ll stop singing 
)
Within the home and workplace, chairs are usually regarded as simple, functional objects that provide seating and a degree of comfort. But chairs offer a fascinating historical study of artistic, technical and engineering developments in ornamental styles. The chair emerges as intricate artistic development that embodies creativity in design and reflects and reproduces in a variety of socio-cultural, economic and political values.
I choose to look at the French style of “The Louis’”
Not only is it suitable that all our guys are named Louis, it also makes some practical sense. The Louis all came from the House of Bourbon. It was during the reign of Louis XIII that furniture majored and became comfortable. It’s not surprising that the furniture styles were named for the reigning monarch. Spanning centuries, fashions came from the top, down – unlike now, where you can see street fashion on the runway. Each new king had his own style that distinguished his supremacy from the others. With comfort in mind, that fixation did not take off until the 18th century.
Louis XIII (1610-1643)
Louis XIV (1643 -1715)
Louis XV (1715-1774)
Louis XVI (1774 – 1792)
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Louis XIII chair – Late Renaissance Style:
Louis XIII style chair was short in the back and square in shape.
Louis XIV– Baroque Style:
There was a development in chair creation, with the back becoming higher and the seat becoming larger to accommodate the more ample space required by the fashions of his day. Later the chair legs and arms became heavily curved, similar to the cabriole, still somewhat massive but more graceful. Chair backs departed from the rectilinear and swept upward in a curve.
Louis XV – Rococo Style:
After 1700 the legs became more slender, approaching those of the Louis XV period in style.
Louis XVI – Neoclassical Style:
Although tastes gradually transitioned from the curved lines of the Rococo to the straight line of the neoclassical all through the 18th century. By the time of Louis XVI, the curved lines of his father’s furniture were absolutely old-fashioned.
