Thursday, August 20th, 2009
Commercial interior space is at a premium, more nowadays than ever before. The cost of a hotel or restaurant property has risen to the point that every square foot must be utilised to the maximum, bringing in as much revenue as possible. One way of helping this process is to be thoughtful in the kind of furniture purchased. Big items of upholstered furniture like sofas or tub chairs are very comfortable and fine for keeping customers seated a long time but do not allow the proprietor to be flexible in the use of his or her interior space as they are heavy and cumbersome making them difficult to move. With a more considered choice of restaurant chairs or hotel chairs and tables one room can serve more than one function and can make the process of cleaning the room much easier for the staff. For example the room can be used for dining during the week with one type of stacking chair and if, for example a customer wants to rent the room for a wedding or private party then those chairs can be stacked away in a small space and the room can be left clear for dancing or other more suitable chairs can be brought in. A good choice is to use stacking chairs combined with either fixed leg or folding tables. Only a few years ago the choice of stacking chairs was very limited, and nearly all of the choices comprised steel frames with either a steel or plastic seat and back. The ‘Polyprop’ chair, designed in the early 1960’s by Robin Day for Hille International is the most famous of these early stacking chairs and was a very attractive simple design that had the main benefit of being extremely space efficient, being stackable vertically up to 15 high without a problem. These stacking chairs have sold in millions since their inception and many halls, conference centres and cafes still rely on them for their customer’s daily use. However, as a restaurant chair or hotel chair their plain style make them an unsuitable choice. Thankfully in recent years hotel and restaurant furniture suppliers have realised that many of their customers need to use their rooms for different purposes at different times and so have incorporated many modern designs of stacking chairs and stacking tables into their programme. One of the most economical of these designs uses a steel frame in square section steel with welded frame and a choice of back designs in either square or rounded shape. These chairs are predominantly coated with either a gold, black or silver painted finish and have upholstered seat and backrest. Previously these chair frames were manufactured in the UK but in the last decade imported frames have become available very cheaply and with better and better quality.
Some UK suppliers still upholster the chairs in house though, which means that they can offer a much wider range of upholstery colours and patterns and can use UK manufactured foam fillings which tend to be of a higher quality than imported ones. Another reason to buy stacking chairs that have been upholstered in the UK is that the UK has the most stringent fire retardancy regulation for foam and fillings of upholstered chairs. A manufacturer in China or Malaysia will supply chairs worldwide and while the buyer can specify that the foam and fabric are treated to be fire retardant, their foam filling’s fire resistance is made to a lower level than British made foam, being targeted at the U.S. home furniture market and is not usually suitable for contract use. Therefore, if buying stacking chairs that have been upholstered abroad make absolutely sure you have sight of the FR certification first.
In recent years many of the most stylish wooden chairs have been designed to be stackable. Traditional gilt wooden decorative backed wedding style chairs can now be purchased that are stackable to 8 or 10 high. Again these usually have an upholstered seat which can be specified to be removable so by buying chairs with extra seats in other colours, one chair can be offered with different seat colours to blend in with the bride and groom’s choice of wedding decorations. Another stacking chair that can perform the function of a wedding or restaurant chair are the aluminium framed stacking chairs which while being very similar in construction to the steel stacking chairs, have a visual advantage that come from the way the tubular aluminium is made. While tubular steel starts as flat steel and then is bent longitudinally and welded along the seam resulting in a plain square tube, the aluminium tube is made by the extrusion process where the aluminium, in a semi molten state, is forced through a shaped form that means that the tube can be made with a decorative design running along it’s length. When this type of tube is made into a stacking chair frame and painted bright gold it really looks very attractive indeed. These aluminium stacking chairs also have upholstered seats and backs and again it is wise to choose a chair supplier that upholsters them in their own factory premises.
Many bar and hotel furniture suppliers offer copies of famous 1950’s and 60’s stacking chair designs with simple formed plywood back and seat units on chrome round tubular steel frames. The famous Danish designer Arne Jackobsen’s series 7 chair is widely produced now in the Far East and can be purchased in quantity from under £20. These chairs are light and attractive although without upholstery they are only comfortable for sitting a limited time. Other stacking chairs manufactured in very modern designs are made by the injection moulding process where molten plastic is fired under great pressure into a steel mould to form the design. The cost of making the original mould is huge and is a serious investment to a manufacturer but once the mould has been created many tens of thousands of chairs can be made at little cost. With a worldwide market available, factories in China are now using their own or sometimes European designers to create truly beautiful stacking chair designs that can be marketed cheaply because of the huge sales they can achieve. If you decide to choose one of these injection moulded stacking chairs it is imperative to ask the supplier for certification as to its suitability in a contract environment because if it is to be used as a restaurant chair or hotel chair it will receive far tougher treatment than in a home environment. The best certification comes from U.K. testing laboratories for example FIRA (The Furniture Industry Research Association). These people have specialist machinery that give the chairs the kind of stresses and pressures that they would receive in a commercial setting and test the chairs to destruction so that a real understanding of their suitability for contract used can be achieved.
Tags: benefit, Chairs, could, Folding, From, hotels, Restaurants, Stacking, Tables
Posted in Chair | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009
When space is at a premium or when the user has a room that needs to perform more than one function, great flexibility can be achieved by using stacking furniture. In today’s busy environment many clubs, schools, hotels and restaurants will choose to buy stacking chairs over regular chairs because of the convenience that this type of seating can achieve. The main benefit of using these stacking chairs and stacking tables in a school setting is that at the week’s end the furniture can be stacked in a small space making it much easier for the cleaners to do their work. In a club or hotel the benefits are the same plus there is an added flexibility in being able to clear a large area for other uses for eg for indoor sport or for dancing.
There are many types of stacking chairs available, usually with steel or aluminium frames, from those with simple curved plywood seat and back to fully upholstered armchairs that can give comfortable seating for the user for many hours. Wooden framed stacking chairs are also available but the buyer needs to be careful that when stacked the chair on top does not crush the fabric and foam of the chair below because over time this can permanently crush the seat and look very untidy.
This problem tends not to occur with metal framed stacking chairs as it is much easier for the manufacturer to build in ways to prevent contact between the seat of the chair below with the frame of the chair above.
This is most effectively achieved by use of square section tubular rails across the legs of the chairs. These stacking rails also help the stacks of chairs rise vertically without tipping forward or back so that the chairs can be safely stacked higher – often 12 or more without problem. To stop the stacking bars from scratching the painted coating of the chair below, small rubber circular buffers are attached. When considering purchasing metal stacking chairs it is important to ensure that these will be fitted or the paintwork will soon start to get scratched and the frames will soon look tatty.
The advantages of steel stacking chairs are the price – generally cheaper than aluminium and wooden chairs – and the strength, although the buyer should ensure to ask what dimensions the steel tube section is and what gauge the wall thickness is. 19 or 20mm square section is usually the size used with 18 gauge being the right wall thickness to give enough strength for many years of use. The steel frame can be finished in a great range of colours with black, gold or silver being the most popular. The manufacturer can offer a wide choice of fabric colours and patterns. Again it is wise to ask for a specification of the fabric used to see that it conforms to the British standard for fire retardancy and that the fabric has been tested for abrasion resistance. This is the ‘Martindale test’ for resistance to wear during use whereby an independent testing facility uses a machine to continually rub the fabric until it is destroyed, counting the number of rubs needed so that a figure can be given. A minimum ‘rub test’
result should be 15,000, with some fabrics made for severe contract use giving over 50,000 rubs before wearing down.
Aluminium framed stacking chairs usually have larger section tube, between 25 and 30mm and have the advantage over steel of lightness without compromising their strength. Also, because the aluminium tube is extruded in manufacture, the tube can have an attractive longitudinal design that makes the chairs look a little more select than the steel ones. On the downside the aluminium stacking chairs cost more so the buyer must weigh up the benefits before making a decision about their purchase of stacking furniture.
Most stacking tables have steel frames that can be bought with the same frame colour as the chairs or contrasting colour. They are produced in a limitless range of sizes and usually have tops that are either melamine faced or with an even more hardwearing high pressure laminate plastic layer so that they can be easily cleaned and will withstand the extra pressure of having several other tables stacked onto the table tops. Real wood tops are really not suitable for stacking tables since the pressure of the stacked tables will certainly mark the tops below.
Welded frame stacking tables give the best frame longevity although self assembly stacking tables are available more cheaply where the legs bolt on to the frame. These give good service if the assembly is suitably rigid, but may need the bolts to be tightened from time to time which is a hassle that is avoided with fully welded frames. Once again the frames can be purchased in many colours and the tops in a great variety of finishes either imitating woodgrain or in single colours.
In alternative to stacking tables are folding tables which normally use a steel leg mechanism that locks when the legs are opened and should lay completely flat when the folding table unit is closed. These are available with plywood or realwood – usually pinewood – tops or with high pressure laminate plastic facing, which is ideal if the tops are to be used for food preparation as it is easily cleaned.
The advantage of folding tables is that they take up less space when folded and can be stored horizontally or vertically making them easier to store in smaller spaces.
For outdoor use all aluminium stacking furniture is favourite. Usually these have polished aluminium frames that are lacquered to stop the aluminium from discolouring after getting wet. These stacking chairs are complemented by aluminium framed stacking tables with polished stainless steel tops on chipboard or medium density fibreboard forms.
For the best weather protection these tables can be bought with edges that are wrapped around the fibreboard or chipboard. Cheaper versions are available with a plastic glued edge but these allow the ingress of water which inevitably means that the fibreboard will swell up, causing the top to be deformed.
Tags: Chairs, Stacking
Posted in Chair | No Comments »