Big backside on thin legs

Arne Jacobsen: Ant Chair, 1952

Big backside on thin legsUsing steam to mould plywood into shape was still a rather new technique in the 1950s. The Dane Arne Jacobsen used this technique because it allowed him to design a chair consisting of only two components: seat and backrest are made of one single piece of wood that is screwed to a tubular steel frame.

Jacobsen wanted a stable chair whose production should be as cost-efficient and as simple as possible. For this reason he reduced the chair to the most essential parts and succeeded in achieving the necessary stability with only three legs. The chair is also stackable because it was especially developed for the canteen of a big company. By the way: In order to be able to produce the seat and backrest from one piece of wood Arne Jacobsen had to give the plywood a very slim ‘waist’. The resulting shape inspired him to call the chair the ‘Ant Chair’.