Audo Breathes New Life Into the 1953 Penguin Rocking Chair

The rocking chair’s attraction could be attributed to one thing past the bodily movement inherent to its kind, for the rocking chair is a bit of furnishings inviting unhurried contemplation and relaxed playfulness solely matched by its swinging cousin, the hammock. There you might be, perpetually transferring, however by no means actually getting wherever. However that’s all a part of its appeal. The Penguin Rocking Chair is a traditional illustration of that middleman state between sitting and transferring, our private favourite rocking chair, all executed with a visible lightness that appears each bit modern at present as when it was first revealed in 1953.

Like many issues stated and executed, the rocking chair as we all know it’s typically attributed as an invention of American polymath, Benjamin Franklin. However in accordance with Witold Rybczynski, writer of Now Sit Me Down, a complete historical past of the chair, this isn’t right. A invoice for a “Nurse Chair with rockers” crafted by Pennsylvania cabinetmaker Solomon Fussell in 1742 was the primary formal point out of a rocking chair in writing. Timelines monitoring the primary point out of rocking chairs additionally reveal a 6-legged predecessor frequent to Sweden referred to as the “gungstol” (now available at present in spirit as IKEA’s POÄNG rocker, sans these 6 legs).

The mid-century years should not usually the period most related to the rocking chair. But, lo and behold, there was Ray and Charles Eames in 1950 with their playful fiberglass single-shell RAR armchair, and George Nakashima’s single-armed 1960’s design. Earlier than that, Hans Wegner’s Shaker and Windsor impressed rocking chair had the Danish stress-free all the way in which again in 1944.

And so too, iconic Danish furnishings designer Ib Kofod-Larsen imagined his personal rocking chair, the Penguin, in 1953. It was one in a collection of seats, a variant of a extra historically legged eating chair of the identical identify. And now furnishings model Audo has revitalized the design with a number of trendy touches.

Kofod-Larsen’s unique design for Christensen & Larsen featured wrought iron framework, a cushioned upholstered seat, and an angled molded birch again that gave the chair’s profile a kind of mid-century silhouette on skis vibe. The design abides by Kofod-Larsen’s Danish Fashionable dictum: “Design furnishings for on a regular basis use, to not impress individuals.” You may nonetheless often discover originals in various levels of situation on-line and in classic retailers.

Every chair is made to order, with 7 customary upholstery colours accessible for the totally upholstered version or 9 customary upholstery colours for the wooden again rocking chair mannequin (alongside the selection between pure oak or walnut for the seat’s again).

Audo’s revived Penguin Rocking Chair maintains the unique’s sculptural open design, supplied as an all-wood curved again and seat chair, one with wooden, leather-based, or material upholstered seat and again, or a mix of each, with all variations supported by a metal body. At present the Penguin Rocking Chair’s lower metal body is welded by robotic welding after which powder coated; the seat and again are every comprised of bent plywood with the rockers CNC carved from ash earlier than being portray.

What’s notably thrilling for fans of Kofod-Larsen’s timeless design is now you may get his rocking chair with an all-wood seat and again, or with Kvadrat wool worsted upholstery, boucle, or leather-based in a dizzying vary of colours and textures (customized upholstery accessible by means of Audo’s upholstery program at an additional value). The colour choices open up the Penguin Rocking Chair to tackle a recent presence transcending its classic origins, more likely to shock the uninitiated that individuals had been rocking out in type 70 years in the past in such modernist style.

The Penguin Rocking Chair is accessible beginning at $1,165 with the totally upholstered version priced beginning at $1,880, each at us.audocph.com.

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Gregory Han is a Senior Editor at Design Milk. A Los Angeles native with a profound love and curiosity for design, mountaineering, tide swimming pools, and highway journeys, a number of his adventures and musings could be discovered at gregoryhan.com.