QUICKSWOOD: Design

OBJECT 12

A half-century in a man’s life is a significant chunk of time and so turning 50 was an important landmark for me. It was the moment when I stood on the timeline and saw for the first time both the beginning and the end. But I’m a lucky man for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that the cloud that was my 50th birthday had a silver lining. That’s not quite right. Actually, my wife presented me with a birthday present that was a cloud, but a very special cloud, a cloud with a plastic lining. My 50th birthday present from Josée was La Chaise, Charles and Ray Eames’ iconic chaise longue and the object of desire of every serious chair lover.

La Chaise, the chair in French. Makes sense, right? Not so simple. The name does not refer to an object but rather to a person, the French-American sculptor Gaston Lachaise (1882 – 1935). It is said that as the chair was taking shape in the Eames office, someone suggested that they could imagine a Gaston Lachaise model reclining in it. In honor of the sculptor and no doubt for the pun of it, Charles and Ray named the chair La Chaise.

No object exists in isolation and it is likely that La Chaise is related conceptually to the surrealistic style as espoused by Salvador Dali. Consider Dali’s Le Sommeil (1937) and Vestiges Ataviques Apres La Pluie (1934). Both of these paintings make use of organic shapes in surreal contexts. The latter of these two works is especially significant in its similarity in that the main object is white and possesses a topological genus of 1. The hole in La Chaise catches the eye and in my opinion amplifies the organic character of the chair.
La Chaise appears to have its roots in a series of chairs designed jointly by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen for The Museum of Modern Art’s “Organic Design in Home Furnishings” competition in 1940. Among the many pieces they submitted were 3 chairs that went far beyond conventional bounds. These were truly “organic” in the sense of being nearly freeform and sculptural. The chairs were praised for their use of new manufacturing techniques to mold wood into compound curves. The “lounging shape” organic chair (pictured right) in particular is most likely the direct precursor to La Chaise and is the only one of the 3 that accommodated both upright and reclined postures.
In 1948, New York’s Museum of Modern Art announced its International Competition for Low-Cost Furniture Design. Three thousand entries were submitted from the USA and around the world. The Eames’ submitted a series of metal and plastic molded chairs that would eventually make their fame and fortune. One of their submissions however stood out from the rest as less “serious” but more aesthetic: La Chaise.
La Chaise was submitted under Charles’ name but although there is no doubt he contributed to its design, most insiders attribute this piece to Ray. Indeed, many photos of the chair’s development show Ray at work on it. This bit of doubt as to who actually designed La Chaise may explain why this page on Moss’ web site lists the designer of La Chaise as unknown. I’ve written to Moss about this as I feel unknown should at least be changed to Charles and Ray Eames. No reply as of the time of writing.

La Chaise is constructed of 2 fiberglass shells glued together and separated by a rubber disk. The space between the shells is filled with styrene. The shells are painted white and sit atop a chrome-plated tubular steel frame fixed to a natural solid oak crossed-shape base. This is a large chair at 150cm wide and 87cm high. It weighs in at about 42.5kg.
At the time of the competition, a full-scale prototype was submitted. However, because the factory floor price for La Chaise was estimated to be $27.00, the chair never went into production. It was not until 1991 (The actual year production started is variously stated as 1989, 1990 or 1991.) that Vitra started manufacturing small quantities of the chair in serial production. La Chaise became a symbol of the renewed interest in mid-20th century modern when the fashion designer, Tom Ford, featured his own La Chaise in a 1995 advertising campaign for Gucci. The price of La Chaise at MoMA at the time of writing is $8,430. Go figure.

Shaped like a cloud and looking more like a sculpture than on object to sit on, you may be wondering how comfortable La Chaise is. Amazingly enough, this is one of our most comfortable chairs and one Josée and I often use for reading. Either sitting upright or reclining, the chair seems to envelope and support you. It is also the first chair people want to try when they enter our dinning room. For now, it is by far my very favorite chair.