Kōrero: Industrial design

This 1963 working drawing of a portable wooden dental chair was probably prepared for the Government Stores Board to call for tenders for supply. The design had been around for some time; its lightweight collapsibility made it possible to implement the world-leading School Dental Service, established in 1921. Nurses transported the folding chair, and a treadle-powered drill, from school to school. The elegant simplicity of the chair design, which could be adjusted to meet the ergonomic needs of both the nurse and her patient, were probably not appreciated by young visitors to ‘the murder house’ at the time.