UN Lounge Chair, artist's proof 2014, based on 2013 commission for UN North Delegates' Lounge, Hella Jongerius

Scoop-shaped moveable armchair. The wooden seat and back are covered with foam cushioning and upholstered using a woven blue textile. The splayed legs are made from laser-cut steel and are rectangular in profile. The front legs terminate with black nylon wheels, the rear legs have plastic gliders on the bottom to aid the chair's movement. The arms are upholstered with brown leather. On the chair's back is a metal handle, covered with brown leather.

Purchased through the Design Fund

This chair was commissioned specially by the V&A for 2014 London Design Festival. It was purchased for the Museum by the Design Fund [RF 2014/693].

Hella Jongerius (born 1963) studied design at Design Academy Eindhoven from 1988-1993, she worked for Droog Design for a short time after graduating. Her design studio, Jongeriuslab, was founded in Rotterdam in 1993, later moving to Utrecht. Jongerius’ clients have included the Dutch national airline KLM, IKEA and Vitra. Jongerius has been based in Berlin since 2008. In 2011, Jongerius won a commission from the United Nations to renovate the North Delegates’ Lounge, an informal meeting room at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

For the redesign of the Lounge, Jongerius headed a team of collaborators including graphic designer Irma Boom, visual artist Gabriel Lester, Louise Schowenberg, a professor at Design Academy Eindhoven, and architect Rem Koolhaas. Part of their concept was to take into consideration the nature of the lounge as a space for informal discussion and retreat, noted in the words of Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon: “There have been many diplomatic breakthroughs over cocktails”. Jongerius embraced this by making her UN Lounge Chair light and mobile. It has a leather handle on its back and wheels on its front legs, for ease of movement. Delegates can pull up the chair to join conversations with others in an unofficial context, while the upholstered shell creates a feeling of comfort and a sense of protection. It is upholstered in a duo-tone fabric in blue-green hues, creating subtle variations in colour, which is based on Daphne, a 1962 textile from the archives of the Dutch manufacturer De Ploeg. The metal frame is made of rectangular steel tubing, powder-coated in brown. The colour scheme is based on the lounge’s 1950s palette of blues, greens and browns. In addition to Jongeriuslab, six other companies were involved in providing components or services for this chair, from Germany, Belgium and Switzerland (see acquisition RF 2014/693).

The low height of the chair was a result of other options being vetoed by the Office of the Capital Master Plan, the team in charge of the redevelopment of the complex at the UN. This ruling applied particularly to Jongerius’ initial choice of Studio Makkink and Bey’s ‘Ear Chairs’ (see W.15-2013, W.16-2013). These are large, high-backed armchairs with extended wings, designed to be pulled together to create private spaces within a public area, ideal for personal conversations. The CMP rejected this design because delegates entering the room would not be able to see who was in discussion with whom. The CMP found final low design of the Lounge Chair much more satisfactory.

The chair was not produced commercially.

This chair was comissioned by the Museum for the 2014 London Design Festival.

In 2011, Jongerius won a commission from the United Nations to renovate the North Delegates’ Lounge, an informal meeting room at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. For the redesign of the Lounge, Jongerius headed a Dutch team of collaborators, including graphic designer Irma Boom, visual artist Gabriel Lester, Louise Schowenberg, a professor at Design Academy Eindhoven, and architect Rem Koolhaas. Part of their concept was to take into consideration the nature of the lounge as a space for informal discussion and retreat, noted in the words of Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon: “There have been many diplomatic breakthroughs over cocktails”. Jongerius embraced this by making her UN Lounge Chair light and mobile. It has a leather handle on its back and wheels on its front legs, for ease of movement. Delegates can pull up the chair to join conversations with others in an unofficial context, while the upholstered shell creates a feeling of comfort and a sense of protection. It is upholstered in a duo-tone fabric in blue-green hues, creating subtle variations in colour, which is based on Daphne, a 1962 textile from the archives of the Dutch manufacturer De Ploeg. The metal frame is made of rectangular steel tubing, powder-coated in brown. The colour scheme is based on the lounge’s 1950s palette of blues, greens and browns.

W.11-2014