April 2, 2008—Emeco, the Aluminum Chair Company, is debuting Nine-0, a collection of chairs and stools by the Italian designer, Ettore Sottsass. The new designs re-imagine the classic, all aluminum Emeco 1006 Navy chair, built for submarines in WWII, and manufactured by Emeco since 1944. These are last chairs designed by Mr. Sottsass, who died on December 31, 2007 at the age of 90.
Mr. Sottsass collaboration with Emeco began in Chicago eight years ago when Gregg Buchbinder, Emeco’s Chariman, met him at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art. “The minute we met, Ettore told me he was an admirer of the Navy chair and in fact wished he had designed it. And we agreed, why not re-design it,” remembers Mr. Buchbinder.
“Ettore was the first designer who took our chairs out of their typical environments—navy ships prisons, hospital—and to use them in contemporary interior design projects. Through him Sir Terence Conran, Frank Gehry and Philippe Starck discovered the Emeco chair creating resurgence in the 1990’s. It was only right to commission him to celebrate Emecos resurrection with a new collection.”
The new collection includes stacking chairs and armchairs, counter and barstools that stack, and swivel chairs for meeting or dining. Mixing Emeco’s expertise in aluminium construction with European technologies in polyurethane sculpting, the new designs feature a soft polyurethane seat to create a design that recalls the Navy 1006 but adds comfort and color.
For more information, see the Emeco Web site.
