Lewis Library — The cavalcade of chairs continues!
To recap: Insurance magnate gives $60 million, Princeton builds library. Princeton must choose what to put in said library. Chairs or books, books or chairs? Decision time! Chairs. Totally chairs. No wait — super sexy expensive futuristic chairs! $5000 never felt so good to sit on.
But there’s more. So much more.
A brief rundown of the rest of the best. Just ’cause they’re not $5000 doesn’t mean they’re cheap:
The Chair: Management by Eames.
The Count: 74 in Lewis Library
The Price: starts at $1,199 at Design Within Reach (bulk prices may vary)
The Scoop: From famed designers-slash-directors-of-trippy-high-school-physics-movies comes this classic work chair, found exclusively in the library’s second-floor tree house (which is neither a house nor built on a tree – discuss amongst yourselves). According to Design Within Reach, the Management’s wide construction and sling-like seating pocket created a “revolution in seating” when the chair was first introduced in 1958. The revolution can be yours for only a thousand bucks and change. Princeton, ever the radical hotbed, has bought several dozen.
Who needs upper-level Swahili classes (or other budget-cut course casualties) when you’ve got these beauties? Seriously, though, they’re my pick for Best of the Rest after the Egg Chair. Comfortable, stylish, whisper-quiet. The swiveling action’s like butter.
Also, on the subject of Eames, Lewis’s cafeteria chairs are also stunners.
The Chair: Eames Molded Plastic Armchair
The Count: 48
The Price: $349 each at Design Within Reach
The Scoop: Eco-friendly polypropylene body. Adjustable pod feet. Designed in 1948. Attractive shape, attractive price. Well played, Louie Lib.
And to round out the day’s round-up…
The Chair: Krefeld Lounge Chair
The Count: 48
The Price: starts at $1720 each at Motiv
The Scoop: Sketched in 1927 by legendary designer-slash-architect Mies van der Rohe and later resurrected from unproduced designs by the Knoll furniture company, the Krefel Lounges have broad seats, a boxy appearance, and clean minimalist lines.
All right. That’s enough – I won’t write about this subject ever again. Or maybe I will. What’s the purpose of starting your own blog if not to document all your strange furniture-based obsessions? Never change, Lewis Library. Never change.
(Photo sources: Design Within Reach, Patricia Gray design, Motiv Design)
3 Comments
And what about the desk lamps in the tree house? I think I Googled them once, and they cost like $500 each!
Wait – so why do we always refer to $5,000 chairs if they’re not actually $5,000? Also, cool blog David. Enjoyed the post.
Well, at the very least they’d be (more than) $5000 if I tried to buy one – that’s the market price. Just like we talk about a $40000 Princeton education when technically it’s true that, because of financial aid, the price is substantially less for almost half the student body.