Folding chair

A folding chair is a type of folding furniture, a light, portable chair that folds flat or to a smaller size.

Many modern styles of folding chairs can be stored in a stack, in a row, or on a cart. They may be combined with a folding table.

Folding chairs are generally used for seating in areas where permanent seating is not possible or practical. This includes outdoor and indoor events such as funerals, college graduations, religious services, and sporting events and competitions.

Folding chairs are used in the home for any situation requiring extra seating. This includes parties, card games, and temporary seating at the dinner table. It can be combined with a folding table.

Historically, folding chairs often were associated with providing an elevated seat for a high-status person among gatherings of folks sitting on the ground. Therefore, they often became a symbol for high-status.

Folding chairs or stools were used as seating in the Mediterranean area in the fifteenth–thirteenth century BC. Folding chairs also were used as grave goods in the richest graves. A folding chair of ebony and ivory with gold fittings was found in Tutankhamun's tomb in Egypt.

Folding chairs were used in Ancient Egypt, Minoan Greece, and Ancient Rome, as well as during the Nordic Bronze Age and the Medieval Period. The frame was mostly made of wood, and seldom made of metal. The wood was inlaid with artistic carvings, gilded, and decorated with ivory. In Northern Europe, the remains of more than 18 folding chairs are known dating back to the Nordic Bronze Age. The Guldhøj chair, was found near Vamdrup, Denmark. The ancient Daensen folding chair and another one dated to Medieval times in Endsee were found in graves in southeastern Germany.

In China, folding stools date to at least the 2nd century with full folding chairs (Jiaoyi) being first seen in the Song dynasty from the 10th century onwards.