If you were a chair, what kind of chair would you be?

Would you be a mid-19th century modern Danish Egg or an old English Windsor? Organic and enveloping, straight or curvaceous, the greatest chair designs meld the exceptional creativity of their designer with the extraordinary technique of the craftsperson. Presenting a very strict set of criteria, a chair is more of a poem, than a novel. Fifty Chairs That Changed the World lists the top 50 chairs that have made a substantial impact in the world of design today, making it possible to trace a complete history of design in the last 150 years through a sequence of chairs.

This extraordinary book provides an introduction into 50 of the key chairs that have shaped the story of design. chairs Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, pioneer of modern architecture and author of such aphorisms as "Less is more", and "God is in the details" admitted, “A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier. That is why Chippendale is famous.”

So, how does a chair become iconic? To begin, iconic design is ground breaking. It is a design that other designers and manufacturers follow, as it becomes a benchmark for other similar products. An iconic design is one that stands up to the test of time, remaining a good design despite the passing of years, decades , and even centuries. The ancient Greek Klismos chair, dating back at least to 430 BC,  has been reinterpreted over the ages. My favorite, the Anziano chair by Donghia Furniture, reduces the Klismos chair's sabre legs to a wire outline. Cool.

Maybe the Hans Wegner Papa Bear lounge chair sums up your paternal nature. Or the wire mesh Bertoia Diamond Chair, a beautifully sculpted, airy and light piece which doesn't impose on anyone's space. Arne Jacobsen's  hourglass curves in his Series 7 Chair,  or Phillipe Starke's barely there, transparent Ghost Chair might just be 'you.'

Inspired by the folding chairs of ancient times, Mies got it right with his sophisticated Barcelona chair. On the other end of the design spectrum, but an icon nonetheless, the Barka-Lounger is an ordinary, yet consistently dependable guy of a chair.

If you were a chair, what would you be?