Everything You Need to Know About Arne Jacobsen’s Egg Chair

Did you know the curvaceous Egg Chair was specifically designed by Arne Jacobsen to cradle the body and offer privacy? Later on, it also became the seat of choice for bosses in movies. Intrigued? Read on… Today you'll learn everything there’s to know about this Danish icon.

Jacobsen, Danish architect, designed the Egg Chair for the SAS Royal Hotel (shown below), before designing the building himself, which became thefirst skyscraper ever in Copenhagen. As he was going for a total work of art,to the notoriously obsessive Jacobsen, every door knob or salt shaker mattered.

Yet, none of those became as iconic as the Egg Chair designed in 1958. Designed to look like a cracked egg, the chair was produced using polyurethane, a new material back then, which could be molded into an organic, curvaceous shape.

According to Emily Orr, assistant curator of modern American design at the celebrated Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in Manhattan, the shape “harks back to early wing chairs.” In the mid 20th century, there was a desire to design ergonomic chairs that responded to the body.

Besides, unlike overstuffed Victorian wing chairs, the Jacobsen Egg Chair is modern and sleek. It also provides users with comfort and a sense of privacy, thanks to the way it beautifully wraps around the human body.

The upholstered Egg Chair amazed critics, who identified Jacobsen’s masterpiece with the geometric shapes that were pretty popular back then.And, in his approach to design, its shape totally made sense. He used curvy shapes in order to set off his buildings’ sharp precision.

In addition to the 50 Egg Chairs covered in seafoam-blue that dotted the SAS Royal Hotel, along with the Swan Chair, soon-to-be Danish icon. These were also designed to offer a feeling of refuge and comfort. This was particularly desirable given the hotel’s alternate identity!

It also worked as a terminal, with special check-in area and desks for SAS airline passengers waiting shuttles to the Copenhagen airport. Jacobsen’s optimistic space spoke to a new mood of jet-set travel, to a sense that you were doing something exciting.

The leather Egg Chair has been in ongoing production ever since it was introduced. So,what’s exactly the secret to this icon? Comfort! Another visionary like Jacobsen, Finnish born Saarinen introduced the idea of ease to avant-garde form with his Womb Chair designed in 1946.

This took place in the years immediately following World War II. As a matter of fact, Eero Saarinen once stated, “Today, more than ever, we need to relax.”That’s awfully true of our present time as well.

We hope you find this info truly inspirational. We also hope you learned all three’s to know about Arne Jacobsen Egg Chair, Danish masterpiece with Scandinanian vibe. Tell us, did you like this article? We’d love to know your feedback!

Don’t forget to visit Manhattan Home Design! We have an extensive catalog of mid century modern furniture replicas, including the Egg Chair.