The Asymmetric Lounge is the most sculptural of Harry Bertoia’s 1952 wire chair collection. The chair never made it beyond a prototype until 2005, when Knoll, with help from Bertoia’s family, put the design into full production. Harry Bertoia’s wire collection is among the most recognised achievements of mid-century modern design and a proud part of the Knoll heritage.
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Harry Bertoia's 1952 experiment bending metal rods into practical art produced a revered collection of seating, including this previously unreleased piece. Available either unupholstered or fully upholstered. Sculptural, airy, and breathtaking in shape and form, the Asymmetric chaise is considered to be a masterpiece of mid-century American furniture The Knoll logo is stamped into the base of the chaise.
The frame and basket are constructed of welded steel rods.
The frame is available in chrome or white rilsan finish, only. The upholstered cover is available in a range of fabrics. This product is available with foam that meets requirements for BS5852.
115cm W x 106 cm D,102 cm H, with seat height at 20 cm.
In Harry Bertoia’s original presentation of his wire chairs to Hans and Florence Knoll in 1950, he showed a chaise longue version, essentially the large diamond chair extended on two of its sides, hence the use of the term asymmetric in reference to its shape. At that time the complexity of production of all of Bertoia’s chairs was still years from being resolved by Knoll Design and Development, and as a result the decision was taken to not develop the chaise.
Two prototypes were made. In 2003 one of them was sold by Bertoia’s family and at that point Knoll obtained access to the chaise in order to use it as a model for reproduction. The original chaise was intended to be covered with a full-length upholstered pad, designed by Richard Schultz. The final production version has an optional seat pad as well as the original full cover option.
Italian sculptor, university lecturer and furniture designer Harry Bertoia displayed a unique stroke of genius with his patented Diamond Chair for Knoll International in 1952. Bertoia was an inventor of form and an enricher of furniture design with his introduction of a new material: he turned industrial wire rods into a design icon. Educated at Detroit Technical High School, the Detroit School of Arts and Crafts and Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Bertoia taught metal crafts at Cranbrook. He worked with Charles Eames to develop his signature moulded plywood chairs. Eero Saarinen commissioned him to design a metal sculptured screen for the General Motors Technical Center in Detroit. His awards include the craftsmanship medal from the American Institute of Architects, as well as AIA's Gold Medal.
"In sculpture, I am primarily concerned with space, form and the characteristics of metal. In the chairs, many functional problems have to be satisfied first... but when you get right down to it, the chairs are studies in space, form and metal too."