milan design furniture week 2004: ‘lightweight’ chair by frank gehry for emeco ...............................................................................................................

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‘lightweight’ chair by frank gehry for emeco http://www.emeco.net the project, a comfortable, lightweight and affordable aluminum chair called ‘superlight’ has been introduced in milan’s salone 2004. ‘I wanted three things in this chair: comfort, light weight and strength,’ explains frank gehry. ‘aluminum was the obvious choice and emeco was the only company that could make it. it’s been a fun project, and amazingly quick – just 11 months from the first meeting with gregg to the milan introduction.’ he continues, ‘gio ponti’s superleggera chair was the inspiration – and I’ve always wanted to design a super lightweight chair. I tried to extract the essence – structure and skin, where engineering and design are one thing. ‘uperlight’ is a chair that moves to accommodate all body types. the sitter activates the chair. and we got it down to 6 1&Mac218;2 pounds, and that makes it easier for a lot more people to use and move around.’ ‘superlight’ is available with an industrial felt pad or brushed/ anodized aluminum. the chair stacks in a unique way by un-clipping the skin from the structure. the all-aluminum version can be used indoors or out. retail prices will start at US$ 350. superlight’ by frank gehry sketch by frank gehry leightweight - only 6 1/2 pound / ca. 2,8 kg march 2004 gehry’s signature frank gehry --- see the clip (extract of the film ‘ping pong’ by eames demetrios / director of the eames house foundation - http://www.eamesdemetrios.com/superlight.html) gregg buchbinder, emeco’s chairman and owner ‘emeco spent 60 years perfecting strong, rigid chairs,’ said mr. buchbinder. ‘frank asked us to keep the strength, but add flex and movement. it was a challenge that our production experts ate up. our proprietary heat treatment creates a structure that is 3 times the strength of steel. we found an old machine on site that turns the aluminum like hemming fabric, and at the same time creates a structural tube along the edge of the chair’s shell. this enabled us to perfect the single sheet skin.’ he continues, ‘this is an honest example of a dialogue between a manufacturer with a unique production method, and a designer with a unique vision. our relationship is based on respect and freedom, enjoyment and intensity.’ back to the main page ----------------------------------------------- --- ------- monthly designboom newsletter ------- ------- ? comments and contact us ? -------