10 Chairs That Will Make You Swoon

What would the world be without chairs? Most of us can be found sitting for more than three quarters of the day when not sleeping laying down in a bed. The school folks and the office folks know this all too well. Even the active folks, after a hard run or an intense work out, can surely appreciate the support of a good chair.

It’s perhaps the undeniable functionality of the basic chair that has led to the design world’s obsession with these pieces. Ask any furniture designer or architect even, and he or she is bound to have designed a few chairs in his or her career. The Danish Museum of Design is one example of how chairs have impacted and shaped an entire society, a place with a chair around every corner.

Chairs are so ubiquitous that they even tell us stories about how we live today. The universal plastic chair, for example, can be found around the world, from high class homes to the slums of Mumbai. The plastic chair thus creates value in different ways for different people, speaking about the way we become connected to each other and to that around us. The mass production is an ode to the industrial revolution, while (ironically) reflective of the modern day disconnect as a result from our commodity fetishism. Whether it’s good news or bad news, chairs have a lot to say about how we live and how we are.

Here are ten chairs (we put a limit on ourselves because this list could seriously go on and on) that comprise a mix of icons, classics and modern ones from the new millennium. Here are ten chairs that will make you think; feel; and swoon until your knees become so weak that you’ll need to grab a seat for yourself after this.

Look at any interior design blog and you will see these iconic Eames chairs. Most of these classic molded plastic chairs are new reproductions, as the originals are pretty hard to come by nowadays.

I’ll have a slice of this one – Slice Chair by Pierre Paulin

Diamonds are forever, and so is this diamond inspired wire chair by Harry Bertoia

This modern industrial beauty was actually designed in the 1920’s by a fellow named Marcel Breuer. The Wassily Chair is the first chair design that used seamless stainless steel tubing, which shocked the design world for its absolute innovation.

You may know Philippe Starck for his infamous Ghost chair designs. This new striking piece may feel somewhat familiar to you. Probably because the Masters Chair combines the iconic frames of the Arne Jacobsen Series 7, the Eames DSW and the Saarinen Tulip Armchair. Do you see the icons within?

The Jasper Morrison Hal chair is a simple, cute and playful Nordic inspired design. You can see guy in at least one of the trendiest new restaurants in Vancouver.

The CH25 Easy Chair takes 10 hours for an artisan to weave the intricate paper cord seating. We thank Hans for this one.

Tell me you DON’T know this chair. The Barcelona chair by Mies van der Rohe is world renowned, appropriate for it’s original unveiling at the 1929 World Fair.

Poul Kjaerholm preferred steel over wood in his now classic sometimes understated designs. The PK31 Armchair is a fine example of how the sleek industrial profile of steel takes the cake.