Djinn Chair

Designer Designer A designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object". In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a...  : Olivier Mourgue Olivier Mourgue Olivier Mourgue is a French industrial designer best known as the designer of the futuristic Djinn chairs used in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.-Biography:...

Date : 1964-1965

Country Country A country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously...  : France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

Materials : Tubular Steel frame. Polyether foam covered in removable nylon jersey.

Style/Tradition : Modernist Modernism Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...

Dimensions (chair): (28 1/4"Wx30"Dx26"Hx13 3/4"SH)

Dimensions (chaise longue): (24 1/4"Wx67"Dx25 1/5"Hx9"SH)

Colours : originally red, orange, green, yellow, and other colors

The Djinn chair

Chair

A chair is a stable, raised surface used to sit on, commonly for use by one person. Chairs are most often supported by four legs and have a back; however, a chair can have three legs or could have a different shape depending on the criteria of the chair specifications. A chair without a back or...

 is an important design of the "Modernist" style. It was created by French designer Olivier Mourgue

Olivier Mourgue

Olivier Mourgue is a French industrial designer best known as the designer of the futuristic Djinn chairs used in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.-Biography:...

. Originally called the "Low fireside chair", it is also commonly referred to as the "2001" chair, because of its prominent appearance in the film "2001: A Space Odyssey".

History

The Djinn chair is actually one element of a series of Djinn furniture designed by noted French designer Olivier Mourgue. In 1964 the first piece of the series, a chaise lounge, was introduced by Airborne in Merignac Cedex, France. The rest of the series was released in 1965, and includes the iconic "Low fireside chair", a two seat sofa

Sofa

Sofa may refer to:In general:* A piece of furniture also called a couch* Sofa slave-soldiers in the Mali Empire and its successor states.* Russian Hypocoristic for the name SofiyaIn music:* Any of four bands of overlapping eras:...

, and a foot stool. The set remained in production until 1976.

The name "Djinn" refers to an Islamic spirit capable of changing shape. The design's low profile was an attempt to emulate the informal lifestyle of the time. The set was introduced during a time when growing interest in Eastern mysticism was influencing Western decorative arts.

Survivors

The stretch jersey covering used for the Djinn series did not wear well. Worse yet, the polyether foam used in construction of Djinn chairs has a tendency to degrade over time, causing the pieces to become unusable. "Things should have a short life," Mr. Mourgue said in 1965, when he was 26.

Djinn chairs were sold worldwide, and in Europe they have become valuable designer collectibles. Values in Europe remain varied depending on condition, with professionally restored chairs selling for $1,000 or more, and sofas for more than $1,800. In the United States the chairs remain largely forgotten, and little effort at restoration has occurred.

• A 1964-1965 green Djinn Chaise Longue is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art
  Museum of Modern Art
  The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
  
   in New York City
  New York City
  New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
  
  . It was donated by George Tanier, Inc. in 1966 http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=3358