The Egg is a chair designed by

Arne Jacobsen Arne Emil Jacobsen, Honorary Fellowship of the American Institute of Architects, Hon. FAIA (; 11 February 1902 – 24 March 1971) was a Danish architect and furniture designer. He is remembered for his contribution to functionalism (architec ...

in 1959 for the SAS Royal Hotel hotel in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. It is manufactured by Republic of Fritz Hansen.

Design

The Egg was designed in a typical Jacobsen style, using state-of-the-art material. It is believed to be inspired by

Eero Saarinen Eero Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer who created a wide array of innovative designs for buildings and monuments, including the General Motors Technical Center; the pa ...

's "Womb chair", from which it borrows some traits. Related to the Egg is the Swan chair and, to some degree, many of Jacobsen's plywood chairs such as "7", the Ant, the Cigar, the Grand Prix-chair, the Pot, the Drop and the Giraffe. The Egg (like the Swan) was also designed as a couch. While the Swan couch is still in production, only a handful of Egg couches have ever been made. A few were made for the Radisson Hotel, and a few years back, some were made as a "special edition" couch. The price was quite high—about 400,000 DKK, the equivalent of roughly US$75,000. The reason for the limited production of the Egg couch, besides the wish for exclusivity, is the difficulty involved in making it, plus a design flaw: the couch is too big to be covered by two entire cow-hides, which is only just possible with the Egg-chair. This leaves a very visible stitching down the middle of the couch. This problem can, however, be solved by making the upholstery in fabric rather than leather.

In the media

According to an article in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', the Egg chair has also been used by

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

as part of a high-concept redesign of one of its restaurants in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Furthermore, The Egg is in a McDonald's restaurant in

Nørrebrogade Nørrebrogade is the principal shopping street of the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. It runs from The Lakes, Copenhagen, The Lakes in the southeast to Nørrebro station in the northwest, linking Frederiksborggade and Dronning Louises B ...

, Copenhagen, among other furniture by Arne Jacobsen, although some are imitations. It was used as the diary room chair in the first UK series of "Big Brother". The newly renovated Terminal 2 at San Francisco International Airport features the Egg in its boarding area..

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Egg (Chair) 1959 in art Chairs Arne Jacobsen furniture Individual models of furniture

Design

In the media

See also

References