Sunday, March 17, 2013

The Amazing Arne Jacobsen Swan Chair

Created in 1958, the Arne Jacobsen Swan Chair is a unique piece of design which is still popular today. When it was first made in the 1950s, it was a revolutionary piece of furniture. It did away with the formal straight lines of previous lounge chairs, and instead concentrated upon fashionable curves and features. The Swan chair was designed to be a combination of modern style and traditional craftsmanship, although modern techniques were used to create the final product. The Swan Chair quickly became popular due to the design and comfort which the style afforded.

Many people viewed Arne Jacobsen and his designs from a modernist angle, seeing them as sweeping away the traditions of European furnishings. The Swan chair, and the Egg chair, both designed in the same period, were in complete contrast to Edwardian 'club' chairs. This meant that the fashionable desire for these chairs is easy to explain. The reason why these chairs have become classic lies in their elegance and practicality. Rather than simply being a vintage chair that lot of collectors desire, the Swan chair has, in reproduction, become something incredibly desirable.

Arne Jacobsen designed his chairs to use the lightest possible materials. This is why the majority of the shell in the Swan was created using fibreglass outside. The inside was then filled with plastic foam. Both of these materials are very light, allowing users to easily carry them around. The seat frame is then reinforced using a steel sheet, which is wrapped around the design of the chair. The base, the heaviest part, is made from Aluminium. What this all means is that the chairs are uniquely designed to weigh as little as possible, with the majority of the weight being taken up by the base.

The upholstery of the chairs are another reason for its popularity. The initial chairs were made with leather, which is both comfortable and hard-wearing. The leather was padded out with soft foam pillows, which made the seats and back rests much softer. Modern reproductions can still use leather, but they may also use wool or cashmere fabrics, giving a different feel to the chair. Replacing the leather, however, does not mean that the buyer has to sacrifice any comfort, as the modern fabrics are also soft and comfortable. The overall feel of the soft shell is therefore just as great as in the original product.

Anyone looking for a good, reliable chair will have to consider one of Jacobsen's creations. He made sure that all of the chairs were comfortable and stylish. They have now become a classic look which means that they will fit right in to any area of the home, from a fashionable bedroom to a more traditional living room. Even very stylish contemporary homes will be able to fit the Jacobsen Swan chair into their interior design. As Jacobsen will never go out of fashion, and as more and more people realise the quality of his style, it is likely that reproduction design pieces will also be in demand.