Swivel chair
Silla giratoria
- Date
- 1776 · confidence medium
- Place
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
- Credited to
- Thomas Jefferson
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A chair with a single central leg that allows the seat to rotate 360 degrees, popularized by the design attributed to Thomas Jefferson, who is said to have used a swivel chair of his own design while drafting the Declaration of Independence.
A swivel-chair concept with orientable casters already appears in Martin Löffelholz von Kolberg's 1505 manuscript; the attribution to Jefferson in 1776 is traditional ('purported') and not firmly confirmed.
What it led to
- a forerunner of modern swivel office chairs
- widely used in studies and libraries in the 19th and 20th centuries
- the basis for ergonomic work-seat designs