Is there any other item of furniture more revered than the humble chair? Interior design experts, collectors, and enthusiasts alike will often tell you that a good chair has been their all-time favorite investment, usually ready to recite a wishlist of future icons they hope to seek out.
It's hard to think of another piece of furniture that has such personality. A chair can be soft and welcoming, time-worn and austere, wiggly and playful. An accent chair in a corner of a room is like a friendly open invitation to relax.
What's more, an iconic chair is an accessible way to update a room in an instant, nailing furniture trends, without having to overhaul a room. We've chosen some of the most characterful chairs of the past century. From cafe classics, simple stools, Scandi cool to cozy and oversized, here is our pick of collectible classics to add to your wishlist.
Panton chair, 1959 Verner Panton; manufactured by Vitra
Ubiquitous on Portugal’s cafe terraces, the Gonçalo chair is named after its metal craftsman creator. Stackable, durable and easily mass produced, it owes its existence to a new tool developed by Gonçalo that could bend steel tubes.
Synonymous with Danish design, the CH24 (nicknamed Wishbone) has been in production since 1950. Its minimal form was the result of Hans’ decision to combine the back and armrest into one piece, adding the Y-shaped support for strength. Today there are 33 variants.
The Balzac chair was Matthew’s contemporary take on a traditional leather armchair. Its exaggerated form and tactile materials make it an inviting spot to relax in. Although the design suffered slow sales at first, it soon became a coveted symbol of 90s cool, appearing in adverts, books, and even the Concorde lounge.
The secret of the Stool 60’s success lies in its innovative – and deceptively simple – ‘L-leg’ system, a solid bent-wood component that allowed the legs to be attached directly to the underside of a seat without additional support. This system led Alvar and his wife, Aino, to found Artek in 1935.
Faye created Roly-Poly after the birth of her first child, with the design marking the beginning of a new softer, plumper aesthetic for her work. Made from fiberglass, its chunky legs and rounded, bowl-like seat give the Roly-Poly a reassuring, almost childlike quality.
Designed for Gio’s own Milan apartment, this reclined lounge chair was brought back into production in 2012 based on original drawings from the Gio Ponti archive. Its slightly angular shape reflects his modernist post-war design ideology.
Egg chair, 1958 By Arne Jacobsen; manufactured by Fritz Hansen
Manufactured by Knoll Famously inspired by the bicycle he rode around while teaching at the Bauhaus school, Marcel designed a suite of furniture using bent tubular steel. The chair went on to be one of his most successful pieces thanks to its revolutionary design and mix of industrial and natural materials.
Manufactured by Aram Wittily named after the mascot of Michelin tire company, ‘Monsieur Bibendum’, and his well-padded rolls, Eileen’s Bibendum chair is a modernist icon, deftly contrasting a sleek bent tubular frame with voluptuous upholstery.
With their trademark wit and subversive spirit, the Castiglioni brothers’ Mezzadro (or ‘Tractor’) stool takes the seat of a piece of agricultural machinery and turns it into a playful and avant-garde item of domestic furniture.
The epitome of low-slung lounging, Pierre’s seating designs popularised a cozy and laid-back style of living that captured the spirit of the 1970s. The original concept for his curvaceous chair was to create the feeling of ‘sitting on clouds’.
While most of Lucian’s other chairs riff off traditional spindle-back furniture, the designer took a more sculptural approach here. Striking an artful balance between form and function, all unnecessary elements have been stripped away, leaving a minimal yet distinctive shape.
Manufactured by Cassina Red and Blue chair blurs the lines between art and furniture. A member of the Dutch De Stijl movement, Gerrit broke away from traditional design, creating a new style of construction with non-intersecting horizontal and vertical planes.
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