Joe Colombo For Kartell 4801 Lounge Chair
Vintage 1960s European Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Plywood
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Plywood
People Also Browsed
Vintage 1960s French Mid-Century Modern Stairs
Aluminum
Vintage 1970s European Post-Modern Side Tables
Carrara Marble
Vintage 1960s European Mid-Century Modern Loveseats
Aluminum, Iron
2010s South African Minimalist Night Stands
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and...
Brass, Metal
2010s Modern Tables
Hardwood, Oak
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Pine, Rush
Vintage 1970s French Stools
Aluminum
Vintage 1970s French Mid-Century Modern Sofas
Velvet, Foam
Mid-20th Century Belgian Space Age Sofas
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
Wood
Vintage 1970s Italian Modern Sectional Sofas
Leather
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Leather
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Glass, Wenge
Vintage 1960s French Mid-Century Modern Beds and Bed Frames
Fiberglass
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Murano Glass
Recent Sales
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Plywood
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Plywood
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Leather, Plywood
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Plywood
2010s Lounge Chairs
Acrylic
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Wood
Vintage 1960s Italian Lounge Chairs
Wood, Lacquer
Vintage 1960s Italian Lounge Chairs
Vintage 1970s Italian Post-Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal, Aluminum
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Plywood
Mid-20th Century Italian Post-Modern Lounge Chairs
Vintage 1960s Italian Space Age Lounge Chairs
Plywood, Lacquer
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Plywood
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Plywood
20th Century European Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Plywood
Vintage 1960s Italian Lounge Chairs
Plywood
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
Plywood
Vintage 1960s Italian Lounge Chairs
Vintage 1960s Italian Lounge Chairs
Plywood
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Vintage 1960s Italian Lounge Chairs
Plywood, Paint
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Joe Colombo For Kartell 4801 Lounge Chair For Sale on 1stDibs
How Much is a Joe Colombo For Kartell 4801 Lounge Chair?
Joe Colombo for sale on 1stDibs
He died tragically young, and his career as a designer lasted little more than 10 years. But through the 1960s, Joe Colombo proved himself one of the field’s most provocative and original thinkers, and he produced a remarkably large array of innovative chairs, table lamps and other lighting and furniture as well as product designs. Even today, the creations of Joe Colombo have the power to surprise.
Cesare “Joe” Colombo was born in Milan, the son of an electrical-components manufacturer. He was a creative child — he loved to build huge structures from Meccano pieces — and in college he studied painting and sculpture before switching to architecture.
In the early 1950s, Colombo made and exhibited paintings and sculptures as part of an art movement that responded to the new Nuclear Age, and futuristic thinking would inform his entire career. He took up design not long after his father fell ill in 1958, and he and his brother, Gianni, were called upon to run the family company.
Colombo expanded the business to include the making of plastics — a primary material in almost all his later designs. One of his first, made in collaboration with his brother, was the Acrilica table lamp (1962), composed of a wave-shaped piece of clear acrylic resin that diffused light cast by a bulb concealed in the lamp’s metal base. A year later, Colombo produced his best-known furniture design, the Elda armchair (1963): a modernist wingback chair with a womb-like plastic frame upholstered in thick leather pads.
Portability and adaptability were keynotes of many Colombo designs, made for a more mobile society in which people would take their living environments with them. One of his most striking pieces is the Tube chair (1969). It comprises four foam-padded plastic cylinders that fit inside one another. The components, which are held together by metal clips, can be configured in a variety of seating shapes (his Additional Living System seating is similarly versatile).
Vintage Tube chairs generally sell for about $9,000 in good condition; Elda chairs for about $7,000. A small Colombo design such as the plastic Boby trolley — an office organizer on wheels, designed in 1970 — is priced in the range of $700.
As Colombo intended, his designs are best suited to a modern decor. If your tastes run to sleek, glossy Space Age looks, the work of Joe Colombo offers you a myriad of choices.
Find vintage Joe Colombo lamps, seating and other furniture for sale on 1stDibs.
Finding the Right lounge-chairs for You
While this specific seating is known to all for its comfort and familiar form, the history of how your favorite antique or vintage lounge chair came to be is slightly more ambiguous.
Although there are rare armchairs dating back as far as the 17th century, some believe that the origins of the first official “lounge chair” are tied to Hungarian modernist designer-architect Marcel Breuer. Sure, Breuer wasn’t exactly reinventing the wheel when he introduced the Wassily lounge chair in 1925, but his seat was indeed revolutionary for its integration of bent tubular steel.
Officially, a lounge chair is simply defined as a “comfortable armchair,” which allows for the shape and material of the furnishings to be extremely diverse. Whether or not chaise longues make the cut for this category is a matter of frequent debate.
The Eames lounge chair, on the other hand, has come to define somewhat of a universal perception of what a lounge chair can be. Introduced in 1956, the Eames lounger (and its partner in cozy, the ottoman) quickly became staples in television shows, prestigious office buildings and sumptuous living rooms. Venerable American mid-century modern designers Charles and Ray Eames intended for it to be the peak of luxury, which they knew meant taking furniture to the next level of style and comfort. Their chair inspired many modern interpretations of the lounge — as well as numerous copies.
On 1stDibs, find a broad range of unique lounge chairs that includes everything from antique Victorian-era seating to vintage mid-century modern lounge chairs by craftspersons such as Hans Wegner to contemporary choices from today’s innovative designers.