Niels Diffrient: Rethinking the way we sit down

翻译人员: Felix Chen 校对人员: Amy Zerotus

When I was five years old

当我五岁的时候

I fell in love with airplanes.

我爱上了飞机

Now I'm talking about the '30s.

现在我要谈谈三十年代。

In the '30s an airplane had two wings

在三十年代，飞机有两个翅膀

and a round motor,

和一个圆形发动机

and was always flown

并且总是由

by a guy who looked like Cary Grant.

一名酷似加里.格兰特的家伙驾驶着飞行。

He had high leather boots,

他穿着高筒的皮靴，

jodhpurs, an old leather jacket,

马裤，一件旧皮衣，

a wonderful helmet

一个令人惊叹的头盔

and those marvelous goggles --

和一副非凡的护目镜--

and, inevitably, a white scarf,

还有一条不可或缺的白围巾

to flow in the wind.

飘荡在风中。

He'd always walk up to his airplane

他总是踱着悠闲的步子

in a kind of saunter,

走向他的飞机

devil-may-care saunter,

满不在乎的漫步着，

flick the cigarette away,

把香烟弹向一边，

grab the girl waiting here, give her a kiss.

抓住等在那儿的女孩儿，给她深深的一吻。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And then mount his airplane,

然后登上他的飞机，

maybe for the last time.

也许是最后一次。

Of course I always wondered what would happen

当然，我总是好奇如果他先吻了飞机

if he'd kissed the airplane first.

会发生什么。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But this was real romance to me.

但这对我来说非常浪漫。

Everything about flying in those years,

在那些年里，关于飞行的一切，

which was -- you have to stop and think for a moment --

--我不得不停下来，怀念一下那个时刻--

was probably the most advanced

也许是那时

technological thing going on at the time.

最先进的技术。

So as a youngster,

所以作为一个年轻人

I tried to get close to this

我试图通过画飞机

by drawing airplanes,

来接近它，

constantly drawing airplanes.

不断的画。

It's the way I got

这就是我所得到的

a part of this romance.

浪漫的一部分。

And of course, in a way, when I say romance,

当然在某种程度上，当我说浪漫的时候，

I mean in part

我的意思是

the aesthetics of that whole situation.

全局中的美学部分。

I think the word is the holistic experience

我认为这个词是

revolving around a product.

围绕着一个产品的整体感受。

The product was that airplane.

这个产品就是飞机。

But it built a romance.

但它本身就富含浪漫色彩。

Even the parts of the airplane

甚至是飞机部件

had French names.

都有法语名。

Ze fuselage, ze empanage, ze nessal.

机身，机尾，

You know, from a romance language.

你知道，这是一门浪漫的语言。

So that it was something that just got into your spirit.

所以它就是恰恰能进入灵魂的事物。

It did mine.

它进入了我的灵魂。

And I decided I had to get closer than

接着，我决定我要比仅仅画想象中的飞机

just drawing fantasy airplanes.

更进一步。

I wanted to build airplanes.

我想制造飞机。

So I built model airplanes.

所以我开始做飞机模型。

And I found that in doing the model airplanes

然后我发现做飞机模型

the appearance drawings were not enough.

只画外观是不够的。

You couldn't transfer those

无法把它们变成

to the model itself.

模型。

If you wanted it to fly

如果想让它能够飞行

you had to learn the discipline

你必须学习飞行的

of flying.

准则。

You had to learn about aeronautics.

你必须学习航空学。

You had to learn what made an airplane

你必须学习是什么使得飞机

stay in the air.

能够在空中飞行。

And of course, as a model in those years, you couldn't control it.

当然，在那个年代，你无法去控制一个模型。

So it had to be self-righting,

所以它必须能自我调整，

and stay up without crashing.

并且保持飞行不坠机。

So I had to give up

因此，我不得不放弃

the approach of drawing

绘制

the fantasy shapes

幻想中的形状

and convert it to technical drawings --

转而绘制技术图纸。

the shape of the wing, the shape of the fuselage and so on --

机翅的形状，机身的形状，等等等等。

and build an airplane over these drawings

并在这些

that I knew followed some of the principles

遵循了一定飞行原则的图纸基础上

of flying.

制作一架飞机模型。

And in so doing, I could produce

在做了这些之后，我就能够做出

a model that would fly, stay in the air.

一个能够在空中飞行的飞机模型。

And it had, once it was in the air,

一旦它在空中飞行,它就拥有了

some of this romance that I was in love with.

部分我所钟爱的这种浪漫。

Well the act of drawing airplanes

嗯，绘制飞机的行为

led me to,

引导着我

when I had the opportunity to choose

当我有机会在

a course in school,

学校选择一门课程时，

led me to sign up for aeronautical engineering.

引导着我选择了航空工程。

And when I was sitting in classes --

当我坐在课堂里时，

in which no one asked me to draw an airplane --

让我惊讶的是，

to my surprise.

没人叫我绘制一架飞机。

I had to learn mathematics and mechanics

我不得不学习数学和力学

and all this sort of thing.

还有所有这类的课程。

I'd wile away my time drawing airplanes

我在课堂上画飞机

in the class.

来消磨时间.

One day a young man looked over my shoulder,

一天，一名年轻人从我肩膀上看了看，

he said, "You draw very well.

他说，“你画的真不错”。

You should be in the art department."

“你应该去艺术系”。

And I said, "Why?"

我说，“为什么？”

And he said, "Well for one thing, there are more girls there."

他说道，“嗯，一个原因，那儿有更多的女孩儿”。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So my romance was temporarily shifted.

因此我的浪漫暂时转移了。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And I went into art

我进入了艺术系

because they appreciated drawing.

因为他们欣赏绘画。

Studied painting; didn't do very well at that.

学习绘画。在那儿做的不是很好。

Went through design,

学习了设计，

some architecture.

一些建筑设计。

Eventually hired myself out as a designer.

终于，我成了一名设计师。

And for the following 25 years,

而后的25年，

living in Italy,

我生活在意大利，

living in America,

生活在美国，

I doled out a piece of this romance

我向任何愿意为之付钱的人

to anybody who'd pay for it --

分发一份这种浪漫。

this sense, this aesthetic feeling,

这种感觉，这种美学的感知，

for the experience revolving around

由一个良好设计的物体

a designed object.

而引发的体验。

And it exists.

是存在的.

Any of you who rode the automobiles --

你们中的任何人在路上开着汽车

was it yesterday? --

也许就在昨天

at the track, you know the romance

你了解这种围绕着

revolving around those high performance cars.

这些高性能的汽车的浪漫。

Well in 25 years

嗯，在25年里

I was mostly putting out

我主要把这种浪漫

pieces of this romance

分发出去

and not getting a lot back in

而没有从其中收获多少

because design on call

因为这种设计

doesn't always connect you with a circumstance

并不总是能将你和某种环境联系起来，

in which you can produce things of this nature.

并使得你能在其中生产出它本质的东西。

So after 25 years I began to feel

因此，25年后我开始感觉到

as though I was running dry.

我的才思枯竭了。

And I quit.

然后我退出了。

And I started up a very small operation --

接着，我开始了一项很小的行动--

went from 40 people

从40人(的团队)

to one,

到我一个人

in an effort to rediscover my innocence.

努力去重新发现我的纯真。

I wanted to get back

我想回到

where the romance was.

浪漫存在的地方。

And I couldn't choose airplanes

我不能选择飞机

because they had gotten sort of unromantic

因为在这一点上，他们有某种

at that point,

非浪漫的东西。

even though I'd done a lot of airplane work,

即使我做了很多与

on the interiors.

飞机内饰相关的工作。

So I chose furniture.

所以我选择了家具。

And I chose chairs specifically

接着我又特意选择了椅子

because I knew something about them.

因为我对它们有些了解。

I'd designed a lot of chairs, over the years

历年来，我设计了很多椅子

for tractors and trucks

为拖拉机和卡车

and submarines --

以及潜艇。

all kinds of things.

设计了各种类型的椅子。

But not office chairs.

但不包括办公椅。

So I started doing that.

因此，我开始设计办公椅。

And I found that there were ways

我发现许多方法都能

to duplicate the same approach

达到同样的目的，

that I used to use on the airplane.

正如我曾经用在飞机上的。

Only this time,

只是这次

instead of the product being shaped by the wind,

不是由风来决定产品的形状，

it was shaped by the human body.

而是由人体来决定。

So the discipline was --

所以准则就是，

as in the airplane you learn a lot about

在飞机里学会了许多关于

how to deal with the air,

如何对付空气，

for a chair

为了一把椅子

you have to learn a lot about how to deal

你不得不学习如何

with the body,

对待人体。

and what the body needs, wants,

人体需要什么，

indicates it needs.

欲望说明了它的需要。

And that's the way, ultimately

这就是方法,

after some ups and downs,

最终经过一些波折和起伏，

I ended up designing the chair I'm going to show you.

我完成了我将要呈现给你们的椅子的设计。

I should say one more thing. When I was doing those

我还要再说一件事，当我做那些

model airplanes,

飞机模型时，

I did everything.

我做了一切。

I conceived the kind of airplane.

我构思了飞机的类型。

I basically engineered it.

基本上是我设计了它。

I built it.

我制造了它。

And I flew it.

然后我让它飞了起来。

And that's the way I work now.

这就是我现在工作的方式。

When I started this chair

当我开始做这把椅子时

it was not a preconceived notion.

没有一个先入为主的概念。

Design nowadays, if you mean it,

现在的设计，如果你认真的话，

you don't start with styling sketches.

你不会从造型草图开始.

I started with a lot of loose ideas,

我是从许多松散的想法开始。

roughly eight or nine years ago.

大致八年或九年之前。

And the loose ideas had something

这些松散的想法开始成型，

to do with what I knew happened with

我知道在办公室里的人身上

people in the office,

都会发生什么事。

at the work place -- people who worked,

在办公场所， 在那儿工作的人们

and used task seating,

使用电脑椅，

a great many of them sitting in front of a computer

很多人整天都

all day long.

坐在电脑前面。

And I felt,

我觉得，

the one thing they don't need,

他们不需要的东西，

is a chair that interferes

就是一把干扰他们工作

with their main reason for sitting there.

的椅子。

So I took the approach

因此，我要做一把这样的椅子：

that the chair should do as much for them

这把椅子应该尽可能的

as humanly possible

人性化

or as mechanistically possible

或者尽可能的机械化

so that they didn't have to fuss with it.

以使得他们不会为它所困扰。

So my idea was that,

这样，我的想法就是：

instead of sitting down and reaching

不是让人坐下然后能够着

for a lot of controls,

许多控制机关，

that you would sit on the chair,

而是让人能做在椅子中时，

and it would automatically balance your weight

它能够自动的平衡你的体重，

against the force required

对抗使人倾斜

to recline.

的力。

Now that may not mean a lot to some of you.

现在这也许你们中有些些人并不理解。

But you know most good chairs do recline

但是你知道许多好的椅子会倾斜

because it's beneficial to open up this joint

因为这有助于伸展你的

between your legs and your upper body

腿和上身之间的关节，

for better breathing

以便能更好的呼吸

and better flow.

和更好的血液循环。

So that if you sit down

如果你坐在

on my chair,

我的椅子上，

whether you're five feet tall

不管你是五英尺

or six foot six,

还是六英尺高，

it always deals with your weight

它会根据你的体重

and transfers the amount of force required

得出倾斜需要的力

to recline

的大小

in a way that you don't have to look

这样你就不需要去

for something to adjust.

找些东西来进行调节了。

I'll tell you right up front,

我先告诉你们，

this is a trade off.

这是种妥协。

There are drawbacks to this.

这种方式有些缺点。

One is: you can't

一是，你不能

accommodate everybody.

适应每一个人。

There are some very light people,

有些体重很轻的人.

some extremely heavy people,

也有些极重的人.

maybe people with a lot of bulk up top.

也许有些人上半身庞大。

They begin to fall off the end of your chart.

他们坐着会向下滑落。

But the compromise, I felt,

但是这种妥协，我感觉，

was in my favor

是有益的，

because most people don't adjust their chairs.

因为多数人并不去调节他们的椅子。

They will sit in them forever.

他们就一直那么坐着。

I had somebody on the bus out to the racetrack

我在去赛车场的公交车上碰到过一个人，

tell me about his sister calling him.

他告诉我他的姐姐告诉过他。

He said she had one of the new, better chairs.

他说，她有了一个新的更好的椅子。

She said, "Oh I love it."

她说，“哦，我喜欢这把椅子。”

She said, "But it's too high."

她说，“但是它太高了。”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So he said, "Well I'll come over and look at it."

所以，他说道，“嗯，我去你那儿看看你的那把椅子。”

He came over and looked at it.

他来了，看了那把椅子。

He reached down. He pulled a lever. And the chair sank down.

他俯下身。拉了拉操作杆。然后这把椅子就降下去了。

She said, "Oh it's wonderful. How did you do that?"

她说道，“哦，这太好了。你是怎么做的？”

And he showed her the lever.

他把操作杆指给她看。

Well, that's typical

是的，这是典型的

of a lot of us working in chairs.

我们工作中用的椅子。

And why should you

然而为什么你要通过

get a 20-page manual

看一本20页的手册来

about how to run a chair?

学习如何使用一把椅子。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I had one for a wristwatch once. 20 pages.

我曾有块手表。20页的手册。

Anyway, I felt that it was important

不管怎么说，我觉得这很重要

that you didn't have to make an adjustment

当你想要进行这类活动时，不需要去

in order to get this kind of action.

调节就能做到。

The other thing I felt was that armrests

另一件事，我觉得扶手

had never really been properly approached

从来都没被适当的使用过。

from the standpoint of how much

从扶手能给在你的工作生活

of an aid they could be

中给予你多少帮助的

to your work life.

角度来说。

But I felt it was too much to ask

但我觉得让人把

to have to adjust each individual armrest

每个独立的扶手调节至

in order to get it where you wanted.

想要的位置有点要求过多了。

So I spent a long time.

因此我花了很长时间。

I said I worked eight or nine years on it.

我是说，我在这上工作了八九年。

And each of these things went along

这些事情都在

sort of in parallel

并行的进行着。

but incrementally were a problem of their own.

但同时也增加了一些问题。

I worked a long time on figuring out

我工作了很长时间才明白

how to move the arms over a much greater arc --

如何把扶手椅移动成一个很大的角度，

that is up and down --

这样上下移动，

and make them a lot easier,

让它们更容易移动

so that you didn't have to use a button.

所以不需要去按一个按钮。

And so after many trials, many failures,

经过了许多实验和失败，

we came up with a very simple arrangement

我们提出了一个非常简单的改装，

in which we could just move

我们仅仅是移动了

one arm or the other.

一条胳膊。

And they go up easily.

它们就很容易的升起来了。

And stop where you want.

然后把它们停在你想要的位置。

You can put them down, essentially out of the way.

你能把它们放下来，实际上。

No arms at all.

根本不需要动手。

Or you can pull them up where you want them.

或者你能在需要的时候把它们升起来。

And this was another thing that I felt,

这是我所感觉到的另一件事。

while not nearly as romantic

虽然不像

as Cary Grant,

加里·格兰特那样浪漫，

nevertheless begins to

然而已经开始

grab a little bit of aesthetic

抓住点儿美感了，

operation, aesthetic performance

操作的美感上的表现，

into a product.

在这个产品里。

The next area that was of interest to me

另一个我感兴趣的领域，

was the fact that reclining

是这样一个事实，

was a very important factor.

倾斜是个非常重要的因素。

And the more you can recline,

并且，你能够倾斜的越多，

in a way, the better it is.

在某种程度上，就越舒服。

The more the angle between here and here opens up --

这儿跟这儿之间的角度变得越大，

and nowadays, with a screen in front of you,

在你面前成为一个平面，

you don't want to have your eye drop too far in the recline,

你不会想在倾斜时让你的眼睛降得太厉害了。

so we keep it at more or less the same level --

所以我们让它或多或少的保持同一水平。

but you transfer weight

但这样你就可以把体重从

off your tailbones.

尾椎骨转移走了。

Would everybody put their hand under their bottom

每个人都能伸手从后面

and feel their tailbone?

够着自己的尾椎骨么？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

You feel that bone under there?

你感觉到那块骨头在那下面？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Just your own.

只有你自己。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

There's two of them, one on either side.

一共有两块，一边一块。

All the weight of your upper torso --

当你坐下的时候，你上半身的所有重量，

your arms, your head --

手臂，头部，

goes right down through your back,

通过的你后背，

your spine, into those bones when you sit.

脊柱，直到那些骨头。

And that's a lot of load.

这是一个很大的负荷。

Just relieving your arms with armrests

仅仅是用扶手来舒缓你的手臂，

takes 20 percent of that load off.

就能减少百分之二十的负荷。

Now that, if your spine is not held in a good position,

而且，如果你的不在脊椎合适的位置上，

will help bend your spine the wrong way, and so on.

这将会使你的脊椎以错误的方式弯曲，等等。

So to unload

所以为了卸下

that great weight --

这巨大的重量，

if that indeed exists --

如果真的存在的话，

you can recline.

你可以斜倚着。

When you recline you take away a lot of that load

当你斜靠着的时候，你能从底部释放掉许多负荷，

off your bottom end, and transfer it to your back.

并把它们转移到你的背上。

At the same time, as I say, you open up this joint.

与此同时，正如我所说，你舒展了这个关节。

And breathability is good.

并且透气性很好。

But to do that, if you have any

但是为了做到这一点，需要

amount of recline,

一定的倾斜,

it gets to the point where you need a headrest

这使得在某一点需要一个靠头之物

because nearly always,

因为

automatically hold your head

在一个垂直的位置自动地

in a vertical position, see?

支撑你的头部，明白么？

As I recline, my head says more or less vertical.

当我倾斜的时候，我的头部能表示出垂直度的多少。

Well if you're reclined a great deal,

并且，如果你倾斜的比较厉害，

you have to use muscle force

就需要用肌肉的力量

to hold your head there.

来支撑头部

So that's where a headrest comes in.

这就是为什么在这儿需要个靠头之物了。

Now headrest is a challenge

现在，这个靠头之物是个挑战

because you want it to adjust

因为你想能对它进行

enough so that it'll fit,

充分的调整，以适应

you know, a tall guy and a short girl.

一个高个的家伙或是一位小巧的女孩。

So here we are.

那么，让我们来看看。

I've got five inches of adjustment here

我在这儿留了五英寸的调节空间，

in order to get the headrest in the right place.

以便于能为头靠找个合适的位置。

But then I knew from experience

但是当我从经验中得知，

and looking around in offices

并对办公室中

where there were chairs with headrests

有头靠的办公椅进行了调查后发现

that nobody would ever bother

没人愿意把手

to reach back and turn a knob

伸到背后去拧一个把手

and adjust the headrest to put it in position.

来调节头靠的位置。

And you need it in a different position

而且当你从坐直变为倾斜时，

when you're upright, then when you're reclined.

需要把它换个位置。

So I knew that had to be solved, and had to be automatic.

所以我意识到这个问题必须解决，而且必须是自动化的。

So if you watch this chair

如果你看看这把椅子，

as I recline, the headrest comes up

当我倾斜时，头靠会升起来

to meet my neck.

迎合我的脖子。

Ideally you want to put the head support

理想情况下，你希望头靠在

in the cranial area, right there.

颅骨的区域，就在这儿。

So that part of it took a long time

为解决这个问题

to work out.

花了不少时间。

And there is a variety of other things: the shape of the cushions,

还有许多其他的部分，椅垫的形状。

the gel we put.

我们放入了凝胶，

We stole the idea from bicycle seats,

这是我们从自行车座学来的一个主意，

and put gel in the cushions

把凝胶放入椅垫和

and in the armrests

扶手中

to absorb point load --

来吸收点负荷--

distributes the loading so you don't get hard spots.

这分散了负荷，所以你不会感觉到硬点。

You cant hit your elbow

你能用肘来

on bottom.

按按钮。

And I did want to demonstrate

我想为你们演示一下

the fact that the chair can accommodate people.

这把椅子能因人而调节。

While you're sitting in it you can adjust it

当坐在它上面时，你能向下

down for the five-footer,

调整五英尺，

or you can adjust it

或者它能调整以适应

for the six-foot-six guy --

6英尺6英寸高家伙。

all within the scope of a few simple adjustments.

所有这些调整只需要在很小的范围内进行。

(Applause)

（掌声）