Build · the atoms

Chair Plans, Patterns, and Builds

Four chairs, each with photographs, part drawings, a cut list and instructions, and plans to download in millimeters or inches.

The first is the precedent, Rietveld’s 1934 crate chair, drawn so its buyer could build it. The next two are built to the Keel pattern, two congruent triangles sharing a keel: the Keel Panel, a dining chair of panels on a hardwood keel, and the Keel Truss, a lounge chair of pinned sticks. The last is the thousand-year build, which is a drawing until the oak is cut. A chair conforms by passing the tests, not by resembling the drawing.

Every drawing and plan here is licensed Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0). Build them, change them, sell what you make; credit Karl T. Ulrich, hundredyearchair.com.

The ten-dollar replica of Rietveld's crate lounge chair in black film-faced plywood with pale edges, three seat boards and three back boards, seen from the front quarter

Rietveld Kratstoel 1934

Rietveld's 1934 crate lounge, drawn and priced to be built by its buyer. Eighteen boards, two cleats, every cut square.

PDF, mm · PDF, inches

The Keel Chair in side elevation: black film-faced plywood back, seat and tie seen edge-on, a cherry keel running as one long diagonal from the top of the back down to the floor, and a pale plywood front leg crossing it

Keel Panel Dining Chair

Two congruent triangles sharing a hardwood keel. Seven parts: two keels, three panels, two front legs. The keel is the only part that asks for care.

PDF, mm · PDF, inches

The Keel Truss lounge chair from the front quarter: black, white and birch plywood sticks with rounded ends, pinned, with panel strips in the seat and back

Keel Truss Lounge Chair

Ten plywood sticks, pinned, two drill settings. The widest piece is 143 mm, so it comes out of the scrap bin, and it folds when one pin is pulled.

PDF, mm · PDF, inches

The 1000 Year Chair in profile: an oak side frame of square-ended sticks pinned with pegs, a level rail as the arm, and the seat and back pads behind it

1000 Year Chair

An armchair in reclaimed white oak: one board thickness, square cuts, eight pegs a side, and upholstered panels as the part that gets replaced. A drawing until the oak is cut.

PDF, mm · PDF, inches

The book tells how each of these came about. The Keel build in full is Appendix: The Keel Pattern; what a pattern lets a stranger do with a chair is the chapter A Chair Without Me.

The Hundred-Year Chair · hundredyearchair.com. Every drawing in this section is generated from the same parameters as its cut list, by tools/make_plans.py. Drawings and plans by Karl T. Ulrich, hundredyearchair.com, licensed CC BY 4.0: free to copy, adapt, build and sell, with attribution.