Chapter 3 What Are Design and Designing? 61 Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. An early product that has become iconic is the bentwood bistro chair (Figure 3-31). It was designed by Michael Thonet in 1859. He was the fi rst person to use this wood bending technique with solid wood. In this technique, the wood is fi rst steamed to make it wet. Then it is bent around a mold and left to dry to take up its new shape. The fi rst bistro chair was made of six separate parts screwed together. This chair construction technique is now commonly used to build modern furniture. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was the fi rst architect to construct a house using a very thin framework of steel columns and fl oor-to-ceiling glass walls (Figure 3-32). This reduced the need for solid walls, letting the occupants be in harmony with the natural environment. This new approach to home design has inspired many other architects. Portable media players revolutionized the way people bought, stored, and listened to music or watched media fi les. The small, portable size meant that audio and video fi les became available whenever and wherever the user demanded them. Design, Invention, and Innovation The words design, innovation, and invention are often used interchangeably, but this is wrong. Although they are interconnected, the three words have different meanings. Design is a way to generate solutions to real-world problems experienced by people. It is important to remember that design always starts with an attempt to understand the needs of one or more users. Iem/Shutterstock.com Figure 3-31. Products become iconic after the passage of time. Where have you seen this bentwood technique used? David Zidlicky Figure 3-32. Villa Tugendhat. What are the advantages of building structures using a very thin framework of steel columns? Anrephoto/Shutterstock.com