Perhaps more than any other piece of furniture, a great chair can transcend its role as functional object. Take the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman, one of the most famous furniture designs in the last century. MoMA put one in its permanent collection, and countless others remain scattered throughout pop culture — see: Archer, Frasier, etc. (and more coming, surely). Chairs like this strike a symbolic chord, loaded with history, envy and nostalgia.
While it’s important to give credit where credit is due — the Eames lounger is a design marvel that’s comfortable, attractive and timeless — let us not forget the numerous other chair designs that have made history in the past century, all of which would look equally handsome in your home office or studio today. That is, of course, if you have the dough. Here are eight to know.
Wassily Chair
Though born in Hungary, Marcel Breuer is most commonly associated with the Bauhaus movement of Weimar and Dessau, Germany, where he studied under Walter Gropius. A renowned architect with many famous buildings to his name, including the UNESCO headquarters and former Whitney Museum of American Art, he is also quietly remembered for this chair, one of his first designs, the patent for which was later purchased by Knoll.
Designer: Marcel Breuer
Company: Knoll
Year: 1925
