my favourite

Marcel Breuer’s Wassily

The Wassily Chair was first built in 1926, by Marcel Breuer at the Bauhaus institution in Dessau, Germany. Breuer found his inspiration for the chair in the bent form of a bicycle handlebar, available for the first time in steel due to a development in technology. full article

Van der Rohe Barcelona chair Mies van der Rohe

Van deer Rohe chair

Like all our items free shipping

Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe.
High polished stainless steel of best quality
Made of individual leather squares of finest aniline leather

75 x 75 x 75 cm

The Barcelona chair was exclusively designed for the German Pavilion, that country’s entry for the International Exposition of 1929, which was hosted by Barcelona, Spain. The design resulted from collaboration between the famous Bauhaus architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and his longtime partner and companion, architect and designer Lilly Reich, whose contributions have only recently been acknowledged.^{[citation needed]} An icon of modernism, the chair’s design was inspired by the campaign and folding chairs of ancient times.

Finn Juhl

21 May 2008 by David Goligorsky

Visited the Danish Design Center in Copenhagen and saw their exhibit called “Living Wood.” There was a large room filled with fantastic furniture designed in wood. There were immaculate specimens from Thonet to Eames, but one of my favorites was the Chieftain chair by Finn Juhl in 1949.

Finn Juhl’s furniture designs are simple, yet extraordinary. A clear example of this duality is in this sofa design below (image found at ModCulture). There are a number of great images of other Finn Juhl designs at Architonic and arcspace and images from his house at Materialicious and MidCenturyModernist.com (I really like Juhl’s art collection!)

Chieftain Chair Finn Juhl

Finn Juhl (1912–1989) was trained in Architecture at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen (1934) and studied for ten years in the offices of Danish architect Vilhelm Lauritzen. He was, however, a self-taught furniture designer. His designs were primarily for his own use, until his architecture office became known for its unique and sculptural furniture. In 1951, Juhl was given the challenge and honor of design the interior of Trusteeship Council Chamber at the UN headquarters in New York. The result of this project was heavily praised and generated awareness of a Danish Modern furniture style. (Biographical information from Danish-Furniture.com and r20thcentury.com)

Above: Maman Abdurachim prefers … The Thonet

… to me the original Thonet is still my clasic favourite chair.

Sam_Maloof_rocker_1994 – Posted by Jeremy Kane Via Linkedin

Nick Garrett’s fav: Kartell Frilly Modern Chair by Patricia Urquiola

The Midland Bank insignia chair is possibly the most complex of any chair in our collection. The back is dished both vertically and horizontally and the monogram is in relief. It lends a nod and a wink to Chippendale but then goes further. We offer the chair with initials other than M and B and design every monogram to follow the spirit of Lutyens’s intentions.

The Midland Bank.

… the comments continue in Linkedin.com

Snug from Clayton Tugunon.

With an onus on creating relaxing furniture pieces, coconut trees were used to create this gorgeous Pacific Ocean-inspired furniture collection from Clayton Tugunon.

Above: Anna Chair – Nick Garrett

Below Recliner 004 Nick Garrett

Back in its heyday in the 1950s, Acapulco was (they tell me) a slice of heaven on earth. Hollywood stars, starlets, millionaires and royals from around the world flocked to this Pacific Beach resort and partied like only Mexico can. And after the music was over and the body too tired to go on, they went back to their yachts, villas or luxe hotels and plopped down to rest before the next soirée … and many did so on the fabulous Acapulco Chair.

Above: Gert Eussen’s Potato chair http://www.behance.net/visualprojects

Edwin Napoleon Chair

The classic Napoleon chair was just first used by Lutyens in his own home in 1919. Later he had a chair made for each of his five children, one of which now lives in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. It is said that he named the chair from a painting by Jacques-louis David of Napoleon seated in an assymetric chair. Lutyen described it as the next comfortable chair ever.

Knoll : KnollStudio : Saarinen Womb Chair and Ottoman (clipped to polyvore.com)

Saarinen Womb chair and ottoman

Eero Saarinen‘s 1948 Womb chair, made exclusively for Knoll, displays the Finnish-born designer’s flair for challenging rules, breaking molds and setting new standards for modern design.Back to Knoll Space

Photos

Gio Ponti Superleggera

Midcentury classic Womb Chair enlivens a room (sfgate.com)
The greatest Chair on earth – your favourite? (desight.wordpress.com)

15 Replies to “The greatest Chairs on earth – your favourite? Finn Juhl, Marcel Breuer, Corbusier or Eames?”

nickgarrett says:

February 18, 2012 at 9:13 am

Reblogged this on Nick Garrett Furniture Designer.

Kostas Angelis says:

November 16, 2011 at 1:23 pm

Finn Juhl THE chair
Thats my favorite

Maman Abdurachim says:

October 16, 2011 at 4:46 am

Hi Nick:
There are too many great designs of the chair, but to me the original Thonet is still my
clasic favourite chair.

I also love FLO chair designed by Patricia Urquiola for Driade-Italy. This chair got the design award during the Koln Fair years ago. Unfortunately I don’t know how to attach
the picts of this chair. This chair is produced in the factory where I worked for years
in Java, Indonesia before.

1. nickgarrett says:
  
  October 16, 2011 at 9:47 am
  
  Never too many Maman there are 6 billion of us to satisfy one way or another… our tastes are infinite 🙂
  
  1. Maman Abdurachim says:
    
    October 20, 2011 at 3:38 pm
    
    How about to open discussion on the ugly chairs that had ever designed by the famous designers…..:-)……btw, your ANNA chair looks wonderful Nick… Congratulations..!!
  2. nickgarrett says:
    
    October 20, 2011 at 8:19 pm
    
    Thank you Maman. Yes it just happened along last Sunday… not always like that eh!
Roberta Mutti says:

October 12, 2011 at 12:48 pm

Superleggera, by Gio Ponti for Cassina

Candia Lutyens says:

October 4, 2011 at 4:09 pm

The Edwin Lutyens Napoleon chair combines great comfort and great design.

1. nickgarrett says:
  
  October 7, 2011 at 7:21 pm
  
  Apart from a healthy dose of self promo guys what inspired this chair and what do you see as yr favourite outside that C-zone?
  
Jim Buter says:

September 30, 2011 at 3:13 pm

Still love the Eames lounge and ottoman.

1. nickgarrett says:
  
  October 16, 2011 at 9:49 am
  
  John Lewis have developed a fairly nice twist on the Eames…
  
nickgarrett says:

September 30, 2011 at 12:52 am

Thanks John have posted the Knoll – yep it is a real headturner!

John P. says:

September 28, 2011 at 10:36 pm

Barcelona & Wassily are hard to beat but for real comfort try the Saarinen Womb chair & ottoman.

1. nickgarrett says:
  
  October 16, 2011 at 9:48 am
  
  A quantum leap for it’s time when you imagine dreaming this up in the twenties!!