In 1956 Well known American husband and wife architect and design team Charles and Ray Eames decided to design and build a comfortable lounge chair for their friend and famous movie director Billy Wilder. This chair, produced by Herman Miller, and to be called the 670 (lounge chair) and 671 (ottoman) was available to the public, and, although expensive soon became a hit with professional and wealthy people across the U.S.A. It was also simultaneously produced in Europe by Vitra, and in the U.K. by I.C.F. and Hille.
For reasons known only to the producers, the European chairs often had different bases to the U.S. examples, and the English models had very similar bases to their U.S. counterparts other than utilising larger plastic glides which were located directly under the casting of the aluminium base, whereas the U.S. chairs had a small downturned piece at the end of each splay, ending in a metal glide.
Basically aesthetically the chairs were very similar wherever they were produced, but when it comes to quality, there is usually a vast difference.From experience of handling a great many of these mid-century chairs, I can tell you that the Rosewood veneer used on the American examples is normally far superior to the European counterparts.Whether this is simply due t the closeness of the supply of Rosewood from Rio (the veneer used on the most sought after of the chairs) or that Herman Miller wanted to keep the best for themselves, it would seem is lost in history, although I am still hopeful of a definitive answer one day!
Hing said all of this you would think this is the finest, most comfortable, best quality chair money could buy, well…truth is, it’s fairly comfortable, you have to remember this was designed for a short fat guy, and in 1956, the average height of a man was less than now. for an ‘average’ 6′ guy to get your head on the headrest you pretty much have to have your butt on the ottoman!! Add to this the back of the chair is fixed to the seat of the chair by metal mounts under the arms, which in turn are attached to the seat by rubber ‘shock mounts’ whicre glued to the seat shell. Problem is rubber doesn’t particularly like being glued to wood, and often (more often than not), in centrally heated houses especially, the different rate of contraction and expansion of the three different materials causes them to become detached from one another. If you are really lucky, both sides will come off at once, leaving you flat on your back on the floor with a back which needs re-fixing to the seat, if however, you are like most people, one side comes off, the back twists around, then the other side (still attached) snaps off…result a REALLY expensive repair job, if you’re lucky, if not a spare ottoman and no chair!
O.K so have a chair of dubious design quality, but aesthetically, that’s another story, this chair is beautiful. You only have to watch any T.V. show that has interiors from the 60’s or 70’s and you will see this (or one of its’ many imitators), watch Frasier every week, and you’ll see one in pride of place in his flat.
The end result is basically a chair that is way cool, expensive but cool, a real design classic that will (if bought from a reputable source) will appreciate in value and grace any home, old or modern.
