Take a Seat Trivia Quiz

Answer: Adirondack Mountains

Lee was visiting Westport, New York on vacation and needed some outside chairs. After finalising his design, which he dubbed the Westport plank chair, he showed a friend, who also happened to be a carpenter. The story goes that this 'friend', Harry Bunnell, filed for patent without asking Lee's permission and proceeded to sell these chairs to the summer residents of Westport for two decades.

The Adirondack Mountains are unusual in comparison to the average mountains found along fault lines. An uplift has exposed ancient rocks, mostly over one billion years old. The situation is similar to that of the Laurentian Mountains to the north in Quebec, Canada. The range contains a collection of mountains known as the Adirondack High Peaks; these are those over 4,000 feet, of which there are 46.

Question by Pagea.

Answer: Savonarola Chair

Girolamo Savonarola caused a great stir in Renaissance Florence, Italy. He became famous in the city as a preacher, speaking from the Book of Revelation and attracting huge crowds. He warned people that they could not live a life of decadence, and orchestrated events such as the Bonfire of the Vanities, where the people of Florence were called to burn what he called 'occasions of sin'. This included many precious books and works of art. He saw himself as a prophet and eventually drew the attention of the Papacy when he prevented Florence from joining the Pope's Holy League against the invasion of the French. He was summoned to Rome and was eventually hanged and burnt for his actions in the main square in Florence.

The Dante chair is also a name given to the X-chair, particularly in Italy. In Germany it is often known as the Luther chair, and in England the Glastonbury chair. The Medici are the infamous family of bankers based in Florence during the Renaissance, while Niccolo Machiavelli was a political philosopher who lived in Florence during the life of Savonarola.

Question by Pagea.

Answer: Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier was a prolific architect, with a career stretching over five decades. He was born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris in Switzerland in 1887. He took French citizenship in 1930 after having lived there for many years. His pseudonym is derived from the name of his grandfather, Lecorbésier. Le Corbusier said that his reason for changing his name was to show that all people could reinvent themselves.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was an 18th Ccentury philosopher, born in modern day Switzerland, in a region known at the time as the Republic of Geneva. He died in France in 1788, his writings influencing the French Revolution the following year.

Although both I.M. Pei and Frank Lloyd Wright are architects, neither of them are Swiss/French; Pei is Chinese and Wright is American.


Question by Pagea.

Answer: Chaise Longue

A chaise longue is a low-backed upholstered sofa with an armrest at one end, and long enough to put your feet up in comfort - the ideal place for seduction (if that's what you have in mind).

Mrs. Patrick Campbell, born Beatrice Tanner in 1865, was a well-known British actress who mixed with the racy crowd surrounding the then Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII. She acted in the plays of writers such as Ibsen and Pinero, and perhaps most famously played the original Eliza Doolittle in G.B. Shaw's 'Pygmalion' in 1914.

An intelligent and beautiful woman, many of her sayings have found their way into books of quotations, and perhaps one of the most famous of these sayings is the one quoted above. We can assume that she knew what she was talking about.

Question by Invinoveritas.

Answer: Deckchair

The deckchair is beloved of the British seaside and parks. In summer, its bright stripes can be seen all over the country. Usually made of wood with a single strip of fabric for the seat and back rest, these chairs came to popularity as portable leisure seating in the early 20th century. The name comes from the fact that they were originally used on the decks of ocean liners and cruise ships. The fold flat design means they are easy to stack and store when not in use.


Question by Christinap.

Answer: Rocking Chair

The rocking chair has been around since the 1880s. Various materials were used, including wicker and cane, but the traditional rocker usually consists of a bentwood frame. The rocking motion is soothing and is often said to be good for back problems, which is why John F. Kennedy started to use one. He became so fond of his that he had these chairs installed in the White House and Camp David, and he also gave them as presents to friends and Heads of State. Singer Val Doonican often appeared sitting in one in his popular television series of the 1970s.

Question by Christinap.

Answer: Barcelona Chair

The Barcelona chair was designed to be exhibited in the German pavilion at the 1929 International Exposition in Barcelona, Spain. With a metal X frame, padded leather seat and back and simple lines, it has become a design classic much copied all over the world. Originally the frame was bolted together, but a re-design in the 1950s gave it the sleek look that we know today. The design inspiration is thought to have come from early Roman X frame chairs.


Question by Christinap.

Answer: Marilyn Monroe

The part of the song in which the Morris chair is mentioned is as follows:
'At a party
Or at a ball
I've got to admit
He's nothing at all
But in a Morris chair
You'd be surprised.'


Although the original lyrics don't mention a Morris chair, the meaning is clear as the whole song revolves around the concept of a 'surprisingly good lover'. The reference is more subtle in Joseph Meyer's 'My Honey's Lovin' Arms', while in the patriotic WWI song 'If he can fight like he can love, good night Germany' the reference to the Morris chair is more blunt:
'...I know he'll be a hero over there, 'cause he's a bear in any Morris chair...'
Oh my...

Question by Pagea.

Answer: Ottoman

A tuffet can be described as basically a large cushion, with internal frame supports that are unseen from the outside. Its names refer to its circular shape, with 'tuffet' meaning 'little tuft' from Old French, 'pouffe' from the French meaning 'puffed out', and 'hassock' meaning a small hill or clump of grass from Old English. 'Hassock is generally the name used in a church context, referring to the small circular stools or cushions that people kneel on to pray.

'Ottoman' first referred to any deeply upholstered seat, and the seat and its name were brought to Europe in the 18th century from Turkey, then part of the Ottoman Empire. Over time, the chair evolved into the shape we see now, a square or circular shaped stool with storage space inside of it.

Question by Reeshy.

Answer: Egg

Arne Jacobsen was born in 1902, and made many contributions to architectural Functionalism, which is the principle of designing buildings based on their purpose. He attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, and won various awards for his designs, including House of the Future from the Danish Architects' Association. Due to his Jewish heritage, Jacobsen fled to Sweden during World War II, returning to Denmark in 1945 and rebuilding his career.

Jacobsen's commission in the late 1950s from the Radisson Blu Royal hotel included designing pretty much everything in the building as well as the building itself, even down to items sold in the souvenir shop. One of his designs was, of course, the Egg chair, a minimalist chair with all rounded edges and a high back. Egg chairs can be seen in some McDonald's restaurants, as well as in the UK reality TV series 'Big Brother'. Both the Egg and a similar design by Jacobsen, the Swan chair, have been manufactured by Danish company Fritz Hansen.

Question by Reeshy.