what came first… the chair or the egg?
April 22, 2011
Since we are heading into the Easter Weekend, there are sure to be lots of egg dying and egg hunts taking place. Let’s take a look at the ‘egg’ in terms of interior design…The Egg Chair is often considered on of the most recognizable icon chairs of the 20th century. You can find it on anything from totes to jewelry to post cards. It was designed by Arne Jacobsen in 1956 for the lobby and public areas of the Radisson SAS Hotel in Copenhagen. Jacobsen wanted to create a chair with a unique shape that, when sitting in it in a public space, it still gave you a little bit of privacy. The Egg Chair did just that.
Photo #2 shows a pillow design paying homage to the iconic chair.
As you can see in photo #3, Jacobsen was meticulous about where the seams of the fabric would fall when designing this chair. He made sure that the dimensions of the chair were exact so that it could be upholstered with two cowhides without showing the seams.
Jacobsen took inspiration from another mid-century modern designed chair; The Womb Chair (photo #4). It was designed by Eero Saarinen exclusively for Knoll. Both chairs are designed to have matching ottomans.
