Before sitting down to debate the 25 most defining pieces of furniture from the past 100 years, all six panelists — the curator Paola Antonelli; T’s design and interiors director, Tom Delavan; the actress and furniture collector Julianne Moore; the artist Katie Stout; and the architects and designers Daniel Romualdez and Rafael de Cárdenas — were asked to nominate about 10 objects apiece from which the list would be winnowed down. When coming up with his selections, Romualdez rightly figured that the others would include what he called “the anointed chairs.” Like Antonelli, he wanted to surprise readers, while also incorporating objects that, he says, “had become part of the vernacular.”
So concerned were the panelists not to make too many glaring omissions that Antonelli, who’d already titled the finished story in her head — “Furniture for and From the Real World” — even suggested publishing two lists. But the group was under strict orders to stick to one, with 25 entries only. And there was, we decided, an argument to be made for controlled chaos; like good design itself, the list is bound by neither price nor process. As an image of the final object — Verner Panton’s 1990s Vilbert chair — was added atop the pile of yeses, Antonelli appraised the victors and nodded. “This is good,” she said. But without their knowing where we started, perhaps readers wouldn’t truly be able to appreciate where we ended. With that in mind, here’s almost every sofa, stool and chair (even the interior of an airplane), presented in chronological order by picker, that the jurors brought to the table.
Julianne Moore’s list:
1. Marcel Breuer, cantilever chair, 1928
2. Axel Einar Hjorth, Utö coffee table, circa 1930s
3. George Nakashima, Slab I coffee table, circa 1950
4. Le Corbusier, LC14 Tabouret Cabanon, 1952
5. Charles and Ray Eames, molded plastic side chair, 1952
6. Pierre Jeanneret, Committee chair, circa 1953
7. Poul Kjaerholm, PK61 table, 1956
8. Charlotte Perriand, Table en Forme Libre, 1959
9. Dieter Rams, 606 Universal Shelving System, 1960
10. Donald Judd, Single Daybed 32, 1978
11. Piero Lissoni, Extrasoft sofa, 2008
12. Faye Toogood, Roly-Poly chair, 2014
Daniel Romualdez’s list:
1. Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, gold satin armchair, 1925
2. Emilio Terry, plaster-and-marble console table, 1927
3. Unknown, but possibly Jean-Michel Frank, Parsons table, circa 1930
4. Jean-Michel Frank, upholstered back armchair, 1932
5. Marc du Plantier, daybed, circa 1935
6. Billy Baldwin, Slipper Chair, 1950s
7. Billy Baldwin, St. Thomas sofa, likely circa 1960s
7. Jørgen Kastholm and Preben Fabricius, Sculpture chair, 1964
8. François-Xavier Lalanne, Moutons de Laine ottoman, 1965
9. Philippe Hiquily, brass-and-steel armchair, 1971
10. Elsa Peretti, table made from a repurposed shipping skid, circa 1976
11. Diego Giacometti, octagonal bronze table, circa 1983
Katie Stout’s list:
1. Yayoi Kusama, “Accumulation No. 1,” 1962
2. Ettore Sottsass, Ultrafragola mirror/lamp, 1970
3. Gaetano Pesce, Sansone table, 1980
4. H.R. Giger, Harkonnen chair, 1981
5. Gary Panter and Ric Heitzman, Chairry, 1986
6. Niki de Saint Phalle, the Tarot Garden, 1998
7. Franz West, “Onkel-Stuhl (Uncle Chair),” 2001-09
Selections from Paola Antonelli’s three-tiered list:
1. Margarete “Grete” Schütte-Lihotzky, Frankfurt Kitchen, from the Ginnheim-Höhenblick housing estate, 1926-27
2. Clara Porset, Butaque chair, likely circa 1930s
3. Alvar Aalto, Stool 60, 1933
4. Antonio Bonet, Juan Kurchan and Jorge Ferrari Hardoy, Butterfly (also known as the B.K.F.) chair, 1938
5. Charlotte Perriand, Nuage shelving unit, 1940
6. Unknown, monobloc chair, 20th century
7. Charles and Ray Eames, molded plastic side chair, 1952
8. Metro, Erecta chrome wire shelves, 1956
9. Jonathan De Pas, Donato D’Urbino, Paolo Lomazzi and Carla Scolari, Blow inflatable armchair, 1967
10. Piero Gatti, Cesare Paolini and Franco Teodoro, Sacco chair, 1968
11. Ettore Sottsass, Carlton room divider, 1981
12. Gaetano Pesce, Pratt Chair (no. 3), 1984
13. Shiro Kuramata, Miss Blanche chair, 1988
14. Marc Newson, Lockheed Lounge, 1988
15. Tejo Remy, You Can’t Lay Down Your Memory chest of drawers, 1991
16. Don Chadwick and Bill Stumpf, Aeron chair, 1994
17. Marcel Wanders, Knotted chair, 1996
18. Philippe Starck, Louis Ghost chair, 2002
19. Hella Jongerius, Polder sofa, 2005
20. Joris Laarman, Bone Chair, 2006
21. Oki Sato, Cabbage chair, 2007
22. Ayse Birsel and Bibi Seck, Madame Dakar sofa, 2009
Rafael de Cárdenas’s list:
1. Carlo Mollino, Tipo B side chair, 1950
2. Allen Jones, “Table,” 1969
3. Gae Aulenti, Tennis armchair, circa 1970s
4. Nanda Vigo, Due Più chair, 1971
5. Arata Isozaki, Monroe chair, 1972
6. Phyllis Morris, Palm Leaf Canopy Bed, circa 1980s
7. Reinhard Müller, Chambre à Air shelf, circa 1980s
8. Sergio Terzani and Jean-François Crochet, gilded metal and maple side table, 1985
9. Martin Szekely, Stoléru sofa, 1987
10. Paolo Pallucco, steel and gray-stained plywood side chair, 1987
11. Andrée Putman, trunk-like cabinet for Balenciaga, circa 1989
12. Kazuyo Sejima, “Move” bench, 1990
13. Shiro Kuramata, Feather Stool, 1990
14. Philippe Starck, W.W. Stool, 1990
15. Verner Panton, Vilbert chair, circa 1993
16. Andrée Putman, Concorde interiors, circa 1994
17. Nanda Vigo, Storet chest of drawers, 1994
18. Philippe Starck, Louis Ghost chair, 2002
19. Studio Maks, Cloud Table, 2014
Tom Delavan’s list:
1. Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand, Chaise Longue à Réglage Continu, 1928
2. Unknown, but possibly Jean-Michel Frank, Parsons table, circa 1930
3. Eero Saarinen, Pedestal table, 1957
4. Nanna and Jørgen Ditzel, Hanging Egg chair, 1959
5. Joe Colombo, Minikitchen, 1963
6. Piero Gatti, Cesare Paolini and Franco Teodoro, Sacco chair, 1968
7. Bill Stumpf, Ergon chair, 1976
8. Joseph Paul D’Urso, D’Urso High Tables, 1980
9. Gae Aulenti, Table With Wheels, 1980
10. Piero Lissoni, Extrasoft sofa, 2008
The post T’s 25 Most Defining Pieces of Furniture From the Last 100 Years: Everything We Considered appeared first on New York Times.