The story goes that architect Frank Gehry noticed a pile of corrugated cardboard outside his office, a material he preferred for his architectural models, and he began to glue laminated pieces together and carve them with a hand saw and pocket knife to create small cardboard sculptures. In 1972, he introduced a series of cardboard furniture under the name, "Easy Edges". In so doing he succeeded in transforming a waste product into a charismatic and charming piece of furniture with a perfectly unfinished look. Vitra produced a number of Gehry's designs from this series and a few are still in production today. Gehry was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1989 for his experimental and extraordinary approach to design and is responsible for important structures such as the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (1997) and the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles (2003).
This piece is 1:3 scale produced by Vitra Design Museum in 1996 as a limited edition series - originally intended to be an edition of 2000 pieces but less than 250 were ever made. (Others in the series included the Big Easy by Ron Arad and Alessandro Mendini's Poltrona di Proust and Lassu chairs.)
Comes in original wood crate and is in very good vintage condition with wear consistent with age. Gehry's engraved signature can be found on a stainless steel plaque on the bottom of the chair.
Chair 13.25"h x 15.5" x 13"
Footstool 6"h x 6.5" x 8.25"
Wood Crate 13.5" x 16.5" x 13"
