Written Statement of Purchased Chair

I purchased my chair from The Mission store on Chapel Street, Prahran for a mere $5. What attracted me to the chair was its distinctive stylistic features especially the exaggerated curved backrest and stacking fins. Featuring an injected moulded polypropylene shell and tubular steel frame the chair is believed to be a stackable dining or event chair suitable for outdoor use. While the exact manufacturer remains unknown the manufacturing process of injected moulding using polypropylene has a long history emanating in the 50's and 60's as a solution for a low cost, mass-produced chair that utilised minimal materials and was affordable to all. The manufacturing process involves thermoplastic materials being fed into a heated barrel, mixed and placed into a moulded cavity where it is left to cool, harden and assume the configuration of the mould cavity. Polypropylene is strong, heat, fatigue and impact resistant, easy to clean, weatherproof and can be joined by heat fusion rather than harmful glues. The bent tubular steel sled base on the other hand uses a technique first developed by Marcel Breuer in 1925. The material was available in quantity, technologically feasible and could be mass-produced. In the purchased chair the steel functions as a solid support for the plastic that allows a degree of flex and is supported by pressed steel braces and a middle steel rod to prevent hyper extension of the legs and it supports even weight distribution.