Swooping and swelling like an upholstered roller coaster, Mats Theselius’s serpentine chaise longue combines unbridled exuberance with design-world cachet. Crafted from steel and topped with leather cushions held in place with rivets, the seven-foot-long perch cuts a distinctive profile that’s accentuated by its Brunswick green finish.
Designed by the multitalented Swede in 1992 and produced by Källemo, the piece recalls the iconic LC4 chaise longue designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand — with a bit of Volkswagen Bug mixed in. Like the latter, it conceals a surprise under the hood: a felt-lined storage compartment that’s revealed when the foot or headrest is raised.
“Many people know Theselius for his chairs, and they’re great,” says Naomi Verbeek, head of design research for 20th-century furniture gallery Morentz. “But I feel like people should pay more attention to this chaise longue. It has a great shape, and it’s very surprising and fun. Also, it’s more of a rare piece.”
Källemo produced a limited edition of just 50; number 8 is now available through Morentz’s 1stDibs storefront. (The gallery is also offering a black version of the design from a separate edition of 50, but Verbeek finds the contours and detailing easier to appreciate in green.) Although Morentz usually limits its offerings to furnishings from earlier decades, it makes an exception for Theselius. “He is a designer that we especially love,” Verbeek says.
Born in 1956 and trained in interior design at Stockholm’s prestigious Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design, Theselius has ricocheted among architecture, interiors, furniture, exhibition design and scenic design over the years, creating a stir in the 1980s with his barrel-shaped club chairs and in 1990 with his National Geographic bookcase, designed to hold precisely 25 years of the magazine, for Källemo. Collaborations with other manufacturers followed, including a commission from IKEA, which introduced a wicker-and-steel armchair by Theselius in 1996, examples of which often command four figures in the resale market.
The chaise longue, however, stands alone — not just for its formidable presence but also for the way the designer juxtaposes industrial strength with sinuous styling, creating a tension between the two that feels deceptively simple in conceit and masterly in execution. “It’s just a great shape to hang in,” Verbeek says. “And it’s way more comfortable than you would think.”
