International Decorative Art

Bouloum Lounge Chair

Bouloum Lounge Chair

Design Date 1969

Designer Olivier Mourgue (b. 1939, French)

Manufacturer Arconas Corporation (1972-present), Mississauga, Canada

Media fiberglass and cloth upholstery

Dimensions 31 1/2 x 57 x 26 inches

Olivier Mourgue based his Bouloum Lounge Chair on the silhouette of one of his friends and christened it with the friend’s childhood nickname. The witty chair was meant to be a friendly and humanizing addition to interiors. The Bouloum Lounge Chair fit the 1960s and 1970s desire for flexible living spaces: the chairs were light, thin, easily stackable and suitable for indoor or outdoor use (with the foam and jersey upholstery removed.) Mourgue played up the anthropomorphism of the lounge chair by travelling with it, photographing it in different locations and situations and writing anecdotes about it as if it were a friend.

ON VIEW in Studio Exhibition Room 14

Credit Line Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art

Accession Number 2016.21.004