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Emeco Bookcases

American

While they’re best known for their revolutionary Navy chair, iconic American furniture company Emeco makes a whole range of seating and other furniture — not just seaworthy chairs. The development of each product is guided by an eco-friendly ethos and pragmatic approach to design.

Emeco began to take shape during the 1940s, when the U.S. Navy needed a lightweight, fireproof chair that could withstand a torpedo blast and hold up to use by “big, burly sailors,” says Gregg Buchbinder, Emeco’s chief executive.

With experts from the Aluminum Company of America, an engineer named Wilton C. Dinges (1916–74) delivered, and the Emeco 1006 — that is, the Navy chair — an aluminum classic, was born. In order to demonstrate the chair’s sturdiness, Dinges threw it from the eighth floor of a hotel in Chicago, and when it landed, the chair bounced in lieu of breaking or bending.

The engineer secured a contract to manufacture the Navy chair beginning in 1944 at the Electrical Machine and Equipment Company (Emeco), which he’d founded a few years earlier in Hanover, Pennsylvania. In the ensuing decades, the factory’s craftsmen would stamp out by hand hundreds of thousands of Navy chairs for battleships, aircraft carriers and submarines — a process that requires more than 70 steps.

Today, the impossibly durable Navy chair, which is recyclable and made of at least 80 percent recycled aluminum, inspires knockoffs left and right and can be found in a variety of public settings, from upscale restaurants to hotels and offices. But it took time to get here.

In 1979, Gregg’s father, Jay Buchbinder, a businessman whose Long Beach, California, furniture company manufactured seating for fast food restaurants, purchased Emeco. The company hit a rough patch in the 1990s. When Gregg acquired Emeco from Jay in 1998, he took the $2 million in debt that came along with it. Fortuitously, Gregg learned that the Navy chair had taken on a new nonmilitary identity around the same time and that it was increasingly seen as sleek and retro in addition to being great submarine seating. Orders for the Navy chair were coming in from design luminaries like Ettore Sottsass, Giorgio Armani and a daring young French designer named Philippe Starck, who purchased a large number of 1006s for Ian Schrager’s Paramount hotel in New York City.

Gregg seized on Emeco’s newfound popularity, initiating a partnership with Starck, who would design the company’s Hudson Collection, a line planned for Manhattan’s Hudson Hotel that saw the Navy chair take on the form of a barstool and other pieces. He also partnered with Frank Gehry, whose Superlight chair for Emeco can be hoisted off the ground with one hand. Collaborations with Jasper Morrison, Jean Nouvel and others followed, and today, Emeco continues to build durable seating furniture from a range of recycled materials with a variety of designers.

Find authentic Emeco chairs, stools, tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.

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Creator: Emeco
Emeco Run Shelf in Accoya with Clear Aluminum Frame by Sam Hecht and Kim Colin
By Emeco
Located in Hanover, PA
Run is a collection of tables, benches and shelves by Sam Hecht and Kim Colin, designers of the simple and no-nonsense. Run effortlessly finds balance in both indoor and outdoor land...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary American Emeco Bookcases

Materials

Aluminum

Emeco Run Shelf in Accoya wood with Black Frame by Sam Hecht and Kim Colin
By Emeco
Located in Hanover, PA
Run is a collection of tables, benches and shelves by Sam Hecht and Kim Colin, designers of the simple and no-nonsense. Run effortlessly finds balance in both indoor and outdoor land...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary American Emeco Bookcases

Materials

Aluminum

Emeco Run Shelf in Clear Anodized Aluminum by Sam Hecht + Kim Colin
By Emeco, Sam Hecht + Kim Colin
Located in Hanover, PA
Run is a collection of tables, benches and shelves by Sam Hecht and Kim Colin, designers of the simple and no-nonsense. Run effortlessly finds balance in both indoor and outdoor land...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Emeco Bookcases

Materials

Wood

Emeco Run Shelf in Aluminum & Ash by Sam Hecht + Kim Colin
By Emeco, Sam Hecht + Kim Colin
Located in Hanover, PA
Run is a collection of tables, benches and shelves by Sam Hecht and Kim Colin, designers of the simple and no-nonsense. Run effortlessly finds balance in both indoor and outdoor land...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Emeco Bookcases

Materials

Wood

Emeco Run Shelf in Aluminum & Walnut by Sam Hecht + Kim Colin
By Emeco, Sam Hecht + Kim Colin
Located in Hanover, PA
Run is a collection of tables, benches and shelves by Sam Hecht and Kim Colin, designers of the simple and no-nonsense. Run effortlessly finds balance in both indoor and outdoor land...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Emeco Bookcases

Materials

Wood

Emeco Run Shelf in Black Powder-Coat & Ash by Sam Hecht + Kim Colin
By Emeco, Sam Hecht + Kim Colin
Located in Hanover, PA
Run is a collection of tables, benches and shelves by Sam Hecht and Kim Colin, designers of the simple and no-nonsense. Run effortlessly finds balance in both indoor and outdoor land...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Emeco Bookcases

Materials

Wood

Emeco Run Shelf in Black Powder-Coat and Walnut by Sam Hecht & Kim Colin
By Emeco, Sam Hecht + Kim Colin
Located in Hanover, PA
Run is a collection of tables, benches and shelves by Sam Hecht and Kim Colin, designers of the simple and no-nonsense. Run effortlessly finds balance in both indoor and outdoor land...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Emeco Bookcases

Materials

Wood

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Emeco bookcases for sale on 1stDibs.

Emeco bookcases are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of wood and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Emeco bookcases, although brown editions of this piece are particularly popular. Many of the original bookcases by Emeco were created in the modern style in united states during the 21st century and contemporary. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider bookcases by Sam Hecht + Kim Colin, Luft Tanaka, and Shaun Kasperbauer. Prices for Emeco bookcases can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $4,785 and can go as high as $6,930, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $5,915.

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