Your Living Room Would Be a Whole Lot Cooler With a Frank Lloyd Wright Original

Have a seat, we're talking armchairs

November 14, 2018 9:00 am

“The chair is a very difficult object. There are endless possibilities and too many problems. It has to be light, it has to be strong, it has to be comfortable. It is almost easier to build a skyscraper than a chair.”

The words of German-American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Mies is being modest (if you’ve ever seen a Barcelona chair, that’s him) but he’s also correct. Nobody loves a bad chair. And they shouldn’t just meet functional requirements. They ought to inspire, too. 

Lucky for all of us, the work of one late chair extraordinaire is headed back to production. We speak of Frank Lloyd Wright’s 607 Taliesin 1 Armchair, now offered via Italian designer manufacturer Cassina

Quick history lesson: the 607 was designed in Wright’s Graceland — Taliesin West, the Scottsdale studio which now hosts his foundation. He was 81 years old at the time and clearly had zero intention of slowing down. Look at the thing. No easy IKEA set up here. It’s wrangled from one piece of folded plywood (drawing inspiration from Japanese origami) and features enigmatic angling along the sides and back. 

It also hasn’t been produced since 1990. Cassina has just revived the armchair, retaining the original lacquered structure while adding thicker padding and dozens of finishes, comprising muted blues, greens, reds and beiges. 

For more information on ordering the armchair, head here

All images from Cassina

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