new at smow: Ball Chair by Eero Aarnio

Students. We love em!

But slightly better than students are poor graduates.

For just as a man alone in a forest at night must rely on all his wit and inventiveness to find warmth and food, so must a designer taking his first tentative freelance steps rely on all his talents and intuition as a designer not to freeze to death. Or starve.

Ball Chair by Eero Aarnio; a room within a room regardless where you are

So, or at least similar, is how we like to imagine Eero Aarnio developing probably his most defining design: the Ball Chair

Helsinki. 1962. The young Eero and his wife have a flat, but no proper chair for the lounge.
And so he decided to created his own.

The result was the Ball Chair  – or Globe Chair – one of the most instantly recognisable and universally beloved chair designs of the 20th century.

Aarnio’s Ball Chair is however more than an eclectic design; it is in many ways the forerunner to a concept of furniture design that sees furniture as a place of refuge, a place of safety and a place of comfort. Modern interpretations include, for example, Lese + Lebe  from Moormann or the highback version of Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec’s Alcove Sofa from Vitra.

Indeed Vitra’s “Net’n’Nest” office design concept relies to a great extent on the basics of the Ball Chair.

Created from a fibreglass shell with a lined and cushioned interior Ball Chair is the perfect addition to any home or office.

Or student flat.

Ball Chair from Eero Aarnio