Easy Chairs in the 1950s

History

• The easy chair was developed in the 18th century as a way of sitting comfortably. It was designed to seat one person and to be pulled up to the fireplace so the sitter could keep warm as well as perform specific tasks, like smoking or playing the gramophone. By the 1950s easy chairs were designed to reflect the fashions of the time as well as to be a comfortable place to sit.

Style

• Easy chairs in the 1950s were not made for lounging on, as easy chairs are today, and consequently they appear more upright in style. This allowed designers to be more sculptural in form. Chairs from the 1950s often had short, wooden arms or "wings," fan-like extensions to the sides of the chairs, and splayed wooden or metal legs ending in a metal point.

Designers

• Many 1950s chair designers can still be found today, either in vintage shops or as reissues. Designers such as Arne Jacobsen, Gio Ponti, Charles and Ray Eames and Harry Bertoia all created easy chairs in the 1950s that helped create the style of the time.

Upholstery

• Typical colors in the 1950s were sugary pastel tones. Ice-cream colors like pale yellow, sweet pink and pale teal were all common and used in upholstery. Fabrics such as boucle were common as well as the newly developed synthetics. Space age, atomic patterns were used by textile designers such as Lucienne Day.