The 20th century is considered as the golden age of the modern chair. Artists and designers took advantage of the latest technological innovations to re-invent an ordinary piece of furniture. We have chosen 9 creative chairs proving that even a chair can be an artwork if it had been created by a real master. What a balance between beautiful (and sometimes crazy) design and ergonomics, between dreaming and pragmatism! Everything you wanted to know about the art chair design.

  1. The Octopus Chair by Maximo Riera is the most frightening object from his Animal Chair Collection. The art object is made from polyurethane, leather and steel, its weight is 65 Kg. This chair is almost alive. “Whilst considering the chair’s basic functionality, I also wanted to bring it alive, make it more present and create a stronger link between the spectator, the piece and the surrounding space, says the artist (com). – This Collection is homage to these animals and the whole animal kingdom, which inhabits our planet, as an attempt to reflect and capture the beauty of nature in each living thing.” The other 9 chairs are The Beetle, The Rhino, The Hippo, The Toad Sofa, The Elephant, The Buffalo, The Walrus Chaise lounge and The Whale.
  2. The Funky Blast Chair stands on 31 legs looking like it is exploding in all directions. This chair is handmade from American Ash by Opulent Items.
  3. Voido Rocking Chair is a unique piece of ultra-modern eye-catching design with smoothly-rounded forms made from rotational-molded polyethylene. This chair looks like a real sculpture. Its author Ron Arad was hailed as one of the foremost designers of the 20th century.
  4. Fish Rocking Chair is made entirely from aluminum sardines fixed together. There is no wonder: a furniture designer Tristan spent 12 years in the fishing industry in Scotland.
  5. Cactus Chair by New York-Based architect Deger Cengiz is an attempt to explore the impact of visual data on human consciousness. The chair looks like something posing a threat, while logics tells that you can sit comfortably on it.
  6. The Sugar chair is made of… sugar! And yes, you can eat it if you want. The author of this chair is German designer Pieter Brenner. “The user can play an active part in the design with form and the dimensions of the object himself”, states Brenner.
  7. Skull chair is a work between art and design by a French design studio HAROW and Harold Sangouard. The chairs are made out of fiberglass handcrafted in the south of France.
  8. Disco Chair is made by an award-winning design studio Kiwi and Pom. With 200 metres of electroluminescent wires this chair will transform any home into a disco dance floor and its owner into a disco dancer!
  9. Millipede chair was created by Ukrainian designer Michael Samoriz. According to Michael, this is «a symbiosis of cyberpunk and bionics» which appearance is borrowed from The Matrix trilogy.

Also published on Medium.