60s design icon and pipe aficionado Joe Colombo designed the Elda chair in 1963, for Italian manufacturer Comfort. Named after his wife, the chair was the first of this scale to be produced with a fibreglass shell. Everything Colombo touched turned to futuristic gold, and the Elda is one of his best.

Gerrit Rietveld designed the Zig-Zag chair in 1934. Comprising four planar elements and originally constructed from oak with brass fittings (later cherry with more complex dovetailing) it was (and still is) radically different from traditional chair design. Minimal in section, and easily stacked, it is both practical and revolutionary.

Cassina is the authorised manufacturer of the Zig-Zag, although copies have begun to appear recently.

Cassina

Marcel Breuer designed the B3 chair between 1925 and 1926 when he was the head of the cabinet-making workshop at the Bauhaus. It was put into production by Thonet sometime afterwards, initially utilising fabric bands secured by springs. After the War, production Gavina acquired the license and introduced the more common thick leather bands. They also introduced the name Wassily when they learned that Breuer had produced an early duplicate for the artist Wassily Kandinsky, who was also based at the Bauhaus.

Knoll International acquired Gavina in the late 60s and have produced the chair ever since, although the design rights have now expired and there are reproductions (of various qualities) also available.

It’s a legendary design, and incredibly revolutionary. The use of bent steel tube was the key innovation, and this was only possible with the recently introduced seamless tubing.

Toshiyuki Kita’s Wink Lounge Chair (model 111.01) was designed in 1980 and is still manufactured by Cassina. Vaguely reminiscent of a car seat, it is adjustable in various planes, transforming between a chair and a chaise by flipping out the rear-facing base section. There are two headrests which can be articulated independently.

The Wink is a true original, but unlike many other radical chair concepts, is is also supremely comfortable – mainly because of the adjustability and well-thought-out ergonomics.

I want one…

Toshiyuki Kita
Cassina

Konstantin Grcic’s Chair One was designed for Magis in 2004. Manufactured in cast aluminium, the shape is futuristic and highly original. The chairs seem to present a digital quality about that is highly suggestive of computer manipulation but, ironically, much of the early development work was done using cardboard mock-ups.

The castings are coated in the deliciously described “sputtered fluorinated titanium” and then usually polyester powder-coated, although there is a polished aluminium version available too.

The original 4-legged version has since been joined by a variety of developments including a quad-pod swivel base, a concrete base and a public seating system. None of these seem to dilute the purity of the original, which I think speaks volumes.

Konstantin is one of the most brilliant designers currently working and Chair One is certainly a very significant piece of design.

Konstantin Grcic
Magis

There is a book called 1000 Chairs. It features a lot of worthy designs but, given the scope required by the title, it also includes a load of rubbish. I have thus taken it upon myself to offer my own online version, featuring 50 chairs that I think are fucking great. Hopefully Taschen will be in touch soon to talk about a printed version. “50 Fucking Great Chairs” might even be in the shops for xmas…

So, here we go…

Charles and Ray Eames were invited to design the lobby furnishings for the Time-Life Corporation’s building (which was part of the Rockefeller Center Extension) in 1961. The Lobby Chair they designed thus came to be known as the Time-Life chair. The chair combines the sculptural aluminium castings of earlier their earlier work, but with a heavier silhouette and a much deeper soft sit. In 1972 Bobby Fischer demanded a Time-Life chair for the World Chess Championships, claiming it helped him concentrate. When his opponent Boris Spaasky saw it he refused to play until they got him one as well. The chair is still in production, manufactured for the American market by Herman Miller, and by Vitra in Europe.

Whilst the classic Lounge chair is being knocked off right left and centre, and the Aluminium and Soft Pad groups have become similarly ubiquitous, the Time-Life chair remains (for me anyway) the most alluring and thoughtful Eames design. It is an awesome piece of furniture.

Herman Miller
Vitra