db Sits!

Eames Wire Shell side chair 

Designer: Charles and Ray Eames, 1951

Manufacturer: Herman Miller

I have three of these chairs, which were purchased by my parents in the 1950s.  Originally they had a vinvl coating on the steel, but that was burned off in the 1989 Oakland fire. It's a tribute to the stability of the structure that the heat of the fire did not substantially warp the chairs, something that happened to most of the steel objects in the house. I had them sandblasted and clear-coated after the fire. The simple legs are original. One of the bases failed and was replaced with a replica wood and wire "Eiffel Tower" base.

An advertising photo for Wire Chairs with the Eameses' Bird Sculpture, circa 1952.

Tulip Pedestal Chair

Designer: Eero Saarinen 1956-1957

Manufacturer: Knoll

The Tulip Pedestal Chair is constructed of a cast-aluminum pedestal base supporting a molded fiberglass reinforced plastic seat shell, even though it appears at a glance to be molded in one piece. It has a latex foam cushion upholstered in fabric.

These were my parents' informal dining chairs, purchased in the late 1950s. As a kid I was told innumerable times by my mom to stop spinning around and knocking the chair into the table. That's fun to do, and I tell my kids not to do it too.

Plycraft Cherner side chair

Designer: Norman Cherner

Manufacturer: Plycraft

I have three of these beautiful chairs my parents bought in the 1950s. They were used to furnish my aunt’s rental apartment in Cleveland for many years. They got pretty beat up and she was going to throw them out in the 1980s, but asked me if I wanted them instead. I had them refinished —two stained red and one black (I know I shouldn’t have)—and use them in my home now.

The chairs are still made, no longer by Plycraft, which ceased operations in the 1990s, but by the Cherner Chair Company, founded by Norman Cherner's sons. http://www.chernerchair.com/

Robsjohn-Gibbings Lounge

Designer: T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings

Manufacturer: Widdicomb

Power Play chair and Off Side ottoman

Designer: Frank Gehry, 1989-1992

Manufacturer: Knoll

Architect and hockey fan Frank Gehry reinterpreted the apple crates of his childhood as comfortable furniture made from interwoven, ribbon-like strips of maple.

I gave this chair to my mom in the '90s. She kept it at her winter condo in Fort Lauderdale. In the summers it stayed in a dark, hot room—hot enough to cause the glue to completeley fail. I called Knoll and they said it wasn't their problem as the five-year warranty had expired. This seemed strange to me, since one of the reasons to purchase expensive heirloom furniture is that it doesn't fall apart.

kid chair

This is my childhood chair, which I loved dearly. No designer or manufacturer of note.