In the previous blog, I introduced Arne Jacobsen's masterpiece, the Seven Chair.
The Ant chair (Ant chair) was born in 1952 and is one of Jacobsen's masterpiece furniture.
Designed for the employee cafeteria of Novo Nordisk A/S, a pharmaceutical company built by Jacobsen in the same year, the initial model was made using Brazilian rosewood made by Fritz Hansen.
The initial model is not only made of rare materials, but is also thinner and sharper than the current model.
Jacobsen, who was said to be a perfectionist, pursued beauty, and as a result, it can be seen that the plywood was made as thin as possible.
One of the features of this early model was that it consisted of three legs.
The current model ant chair is made with 3 legs and 4 legs.
It was not easy to achieve this thinness with plywood from the beginning, and at the research stage, cracks and distortions were more likely to occur due to the thinness, so as we scraped away those parts, we ended up with this ant-like shape. The shape is said to have finally arrived.
Because the Ant chair was so avant-garde design, the manufacturer, Fritz Hansen, was initially skeptical about its production and sales.
However, Jacobsen, who had a strong passion for Ant chairs, said that if they were left unsold, he would buy them all, so he wanted me to make them for the time being.
The Ant Chair is famous for being the world's first chair with a structure that integrates the back and seat. Until then, it was natural for the chair to have a separate back and seat, so it is easy to imagine how the world was shocked when this design was born. From this anecdote, we can see how exclusive and excellent Jacobsen's imagination was, breaking through common sense and pursuing beauty.
Another anecdote is that the existence of Verner Panton, who was engaged in the development of the ant chair at Jacobsen's office, played a major role in the development of the ant chair.
Speaking of Pantone, there are many masterpieces that continue to be loved even today, such as the lighting made by Louis Poulsen, which is often seen in stylish cafes and homes in Japan, and the Panton chair made by Vitra.
( TOKYO APARTMENT STORE / Verner Panton floor lamp )
Lighting designed by Verner Panton is available at TOKYO APARTMENT STORE, a sister store of SUPER VINTAGE. If you are interested, please visit the link above.
This ant chair, which was born about 70 years ago, is a very rare model. At the moment, it is possible to purchase a maximum of 4 pairs in SUPER VINTAGE, so if you are interested, please consider it as soon as possible.