Easy Edges Side Chair (Wiggle Chair)
Design Date 1969-1973
Designer Frank Gehry (b. 1929, American, b. Canada)
Manufacturer Brogan, Jack (b. 1930; American) / Easy Edges, Inc., New York, NY
Media corrugated cardboard with fiberboard edging
Dimensions 33 x 16 x 23 1/2 inches
Architect Frank Gehry, best known for designing the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, conceived of the laminated-cardboard Easy Edges series as low-cost furniture that could be produced efficiently and quickly. The Easy Edges line was made of laminated sheets of corrugated cardboard that could be stacked and die-cut in a number of shapes. Gehry chose to spotlight the corrugated edges of the cardboard because it “looked like corduroy, it felt like corduroy, it was seductive.” The cardboard was easy to die-cut, so Gehry was able to play with eccentric shapes in the furniture, like the ribbon shape of this side chair. The structure was strengthened with rods of laminate plastic and metal at stress points. The Easy Edges series became so popular that Gehry felt it would distract from his architecture career, so he discontinued the line after the initial output, transforming this originally economical furniture (priced between $15 and $115 at the time) into sought-after collector’s items.
ON VIEW in Postmodern Gallery 8
Markings unmarked
Credit Line Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art
Accession Number 2004.0025
