The inventor of the Wiggle Side Chair, Frank Gehry, is an American-Canadian architect, considered to be the greatest of the profession still alive. He is part of the deconstructivist and post-structuralism movements. These complex philosophies challenge the laws of architecture with their unconventional forms. Moreover, Frank Gehry’s style is easily recognizable because of these spectacular curves.
Frank Gehry’s cardboard chair remains one of the architect’s most famous works. Nowadays, it can be found for sale online on different sites at quite different costs. Admit that it is spectacular. We would all like one at home!
The origin of the Easy Edges series
As early as the 1960s, Gehry was wearing many hats and working as a designer. While experimenting with new production techniques, he was looking for inexpensive and affordable materials that could still be out of the ordinary. It was in the course of his experimentation that Gehry developed the Easy Edges series.
One of his goals was to make noble a material, cardboard, which was basically cheap. He wanted to prove that it was possible to make it aesthetic.
The great distribution of the Wiggle Side Chair
Designed in 1972, the Wiggle Side Chair was a tribute to Rietveld’s Zig-Zag chair (1934). To produce it, Gehry used thick sheets of cardboard laminated and glued together. The chair is very strong despite its wavy shape.
The Wiggle Side Chair was for mass distribution, for the modest sum of $15. However, it was quickly withdrawn from the market by Gehry. This fact may seem paradoxical, when one knows the success it had. In reality, Gehry had more of an ambition to be known as an architect and he was afraid to be categorized as a designer.
