By Hend Seif El Din
Announcing its presence in 1956 after numerous years of designing and development, the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman –created by Charles and Ray Eames for the Herman Miller Company, marked the first chair designed by the dynamic duo, aiming to enter the high-end market. Using leather and molded plywood, the designers focused on practicality as well as usability with respect to their creations. With one version currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art, New York and another standing tall at the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan, the chair and ottoman combination have become synonymous with modern furniture design.
The Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman appeared on the CW’s hit series Gossip Girl (2007- present) as well as on the blockbuster film Iron Man (2008),
The Barcelona Chair, created in 1929 by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for the German Pavilion, made its appearance on the set of Casino Royale (2006), Old Boy (2003), and American Psycho (2000) also marks one of the trendsetting pieces of modern furniture as we know it.
Le Corbusier LC chair, designed by Charles-Édouard Jeanneret–dubbed one of the pioneers of modern architecture–was originally part of an entire series of furniture, with the chairs titled Basculant. Created in Paris in 1929, the Le Corbusier LC appeared in the Big Lebowski (1998).
Archie Buker’s Chair, which made its debut and rose to stardom on All in the Family (1971-79), is currently on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Ironically, the producer of the US sitcom purchased the chair from a second-hand store for a few dollars!
Salvador Dalí’s Mae West Lips Sofa, commissioned by Edward James, the wealthy poet and patron of the surrealist artists in the 1930s, was shaped after the lips of Hollywood actress Mae West, who fascinated Dali. The silk-and-wood sofa made its appearance on Austin Powers: the Spy who Shagged me, in 1999.
Yet another famous piece of home accessories made its way into the Iron Man film. Designed by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni in 1962 for an Italian company called Flos, the Arco Floor Lamp truly defines timeless elegance. Using Italian carrara marble, the lamp’s simplicity and fluidity makes it an ultimate leader in the world of modern home accents.
Scandinavian designer Henrik Thor-Larsen created one of the most iconic pieces of furniture known today, namely the Ovalia Egg Chair. The epitome of functionality, style and comfort, Thor-Larsen’s 1968 creation appeared in the 2002 Hollywood blockbuster Men in Black II.
A precursor to the Ovalia Egg Chair was Finnish furniture designer Eero Aarnio’s Ball Chair, commonly referred to as “the globe” chair. Created in 1963, once again defining comfort and creativity, this chair appeared in Moon Zero Two (1969) and television series The Prisoner (1967-1968).
