Designer Arne Jacobsen Country Denmark Sold by Fritz Hansen | Date 1958 Style / tradition Modernist | |
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Materials Steel frame, fabric cover | ||
The Egg is a chair designed by Arne Jacobsen in 1958 for the Radisson SAS hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is manufactured by Republic of Fritz Hansen.
The Egg was designed in a typical Jacobsen style, using state-of-the-art material.
It is believed to be inspired by Eero Saarinen's "Womb chair", from which it borrows some traits.
Related to the Egg is the Swan chair and, to some degree, many of Jacobsen's plywood chairs such as "7", the Ant, the Cigar, the Grand Prix-chair, the Pot, the Drop and the Giraffe.
The Egg (like the Swan) was also designed as a couch. While the Swan couch is still in production, only a handful of Egg couches have ever been made. A few were made for the Radisson Hotel, and a few years back, some were made as a "special edition" couch. The price was quite high — about 400 000 DKR, the equivalent of roughly 75 000 USD.
The reason for the limited production of the Egg couch, besides the wish for exclusivity, is the difficulty involved in making it, plus a design flaw: the couch is too big to be covered by two entire cow-hides, which is only just possible with the Egg-chair. This leaves a very visible stitching down the middle of the couch. This problem can, however, be solved by making the upholstery in fabric rather than leather.
According to a New York Times article, the Egg chair has also been used by McDonald's as part of a high-concept redesign of one of its restaurants in London. Furthermore, The Egg is in a McDonald's restaurant in Nørrebrogade, Copenhagen, among other furniture by Arne Jacobsen, although some are imitations.
It was used as the diary room chair in the first UK series of "Big Brother".
The newly renovated Terminal 2 at San Francisco International Airport features the Egg in its boarding area.