Born from Snow

Born from Snow

Yrjö Kukkapuro's “Karuselli” Lounge Chair at Auction

Born in 1933 in rural Eastern Finland, Yrjö Kukkapuro shared the ethos of his fellow Finnish designers Alvar Aalto and Liisi Beckmann of taking inspiration from shapes and phenomena of the natural world around him and applying these to his works with an obsessive focus. 

He shares that uncompromisingly modernist outlook which brought Finland to the forefront of furniture design in the mid-20th century and couples this with a commitment to quality, aesthetics and comfort, making his production highly collectible, particularly those manufactured in the 1960s and 70s.

The most iconic of his many designs is the famous “Karuselli” lounge chair and Wilson55 are excited to offer this classic example with fine brown leather on a black fibreglass shell and base which was purchased new by a professional interior designer in 1975 and has been with her ever since.

     

The inspiration for this supposedly came to the Finnish architect and designer Yrjö Kukkapuro when he fell asleep in the snow, waking up to find it perfectly moulded around him; there followed the development process which involved wrapping himself in chicken wire and making a mould of his reclining body in his quest to make a chair matching perfect ergonomics with innovative form.         

Eventually in 1964 Kukkapuro had succeeded and the "Karuselli" chair was unveiled to the world, achieving instant and lasting success as a design classic of the twentieth century - Gio Ponti chose the chair for the cover of the influential Domus magazine in 1966, The New York Times nominated it as the world's most comfortable chair in 1974 and Sir Terence Conran proclaimed it as his favourite chair design of all time, famously saying 'It is the most comfortable chair in the world... I lie back in it with a glass of whisky and a cigar and immediately feel that life is worth living.'

          

This edition of the world’s most comfortable chair will be offered with an estimate of £1,000-1,500 in our 27th February Modern Art & Design Sale – take a closer look with the auction preview.

For further enquiries or if you have mid-century furniture you wish to sell contact Specialist James Spiridion via james.spiridion@wilson55.com or call 01270 623878.

 

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