Ball Chair by Eero Aarnio for Adelta, 1970s
View Similar Items
Ball Chair by Eero Aarnio for Adelta, 1970s
About the Item
- Creator:Adelta (Maker),Eero Aarnio (Artist)
- Dimensions:Height: 49.22 in (125 cm)Width: 40.56 in (103 cm)Depth: 35.44 in (90 cm)Seat Height: 19.3 in (49 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1970s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Minor losses.
- Seller Location:Lasne, BE
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU4853229257872
Eero Aarnio
“I always look ahead, never back,” Finnish design legend Eero Aarnio has been quoted as saying. A leading innovator of modern furniture design, Aarnio has long embraced a bold, playful, confident and colorful style several steps ahead of his time.
For his 1954 entrance test for the Institute of Industrial Arts in Helsinki, Aarnio created a whimsical painting of a man reading a newspaper in a red, curved chair whose silhouette foreshadowed Aarnio’s Ball chair of 1963. That spherical seat skyrocketed him to design fame, and decades later, it is still recognized as one of the world’s most futuristic designs.
Born in 1932 to a house painter and a seamstress, Aarnio has always had a cheerful disposition and an independent spirit. He went his own way early on: After just two years at Asko, the big Scandinavian furniture company that originally produced his Ball chair, Aarnio established his own studio in 1962.
Over the next decade, the young visionary made an indelible mark on the world. Open-minded and entrepreneurial, Aarnio embraced the aesthetics, materials and technologies of the Swinging Sixties, working with a new generation of plastics and molding them into fluid, organically shaped, brightly hued forms.
Introduced at the 1966 Cologne Furniture Fair, the pod-like fiberglass Ball chair soon adorned the homes of movie stars and royalty, graced magazine covers around the world and was featured in films and ads. The groundbreaking seat originally came in orange, white, black, yellow and red and could be ordered with a telephone installed in it. Yet this designer of the future, as he was known in the 1960s, has always insisted that he didn’t deliberately seek to be associated with the decade’s sci-fi aesthetic.
“I had no intention to create either pop or Space Age design — as many people label my work,” Aarnio declares in one of the essays included in Eero Aarnio — Designer of Colour and Joy, a book jointly created by the Design Museum and publisher WSOY to accompany 2016’s “Eero Aarnio” exhibition.
The show featured a number of Aarnio’s objects, including his iconic Ball, Pastil (1967), Bubble (1968), Tomato (1971) and Pony (1973) chairs. These were joined by lesser-known seating and other objects like the rattan Juttujakkara, or mushroom, stool (1960); the sculptural Double Bubble lamp (2000), with which Aarnio first explored the possibilities of rotation-cast plastic; and the three-legged Rocket (1995) and Baby Rocket (2006) stools, both parts of a collection produced by Artek after Tom Dixon, the company’s creative director from 2004 to 2009, discovered the original piece in Aarnio’s kitchen.
“Aarnio expanded the whole idea of what constitutes furniture,” explained Suvi Saloniemi, the Design Museum’s chief curator. “His significance as a designer is crystallized in the liberation of form that he has introduced by discovering the properties of plastic as the material of a designer. His furniture is sculpture-like and eye-catching, but the pieces are always utilitarian at the same time.”
Find an extraordinary range of vintage Eero Aarnio chairs, tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.
- "Wassily" Chair by Marcel Breuer for Gavina, 1970sBy Marcel Breuer, GavinaLocated in Lasne, BEArmchair in Chromed metal and cream fabric. Seat height: 43 cm. wear due to time and age of the chair.Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsMetal
- "Wassily" Chair by Marcel Breuer for Gavina, 1970sBy Marcel Breuer, GavinaLocated in Lasne, BEArmchair in Chromed metal and cream fabric by Marcel Breuer. Seat height: 43 cm. wear due to time and age of the chair.Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsMetal
- Wassily Chair by Marcel Breuer for Gavina, 1970sBy Marcel Breuer, GavinaLocated in Lasne, BEArmchair in chromed metal and black leather. Wear due to time and age of the armchair. Measures: seat height: 43 cm.Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsMetal
- Alky Chair by Giancarlo Piretti for Anonima Castelli, 1970sBy Giancarlo Piretti, Anonima CastelliLocated in Lasne, BEArmchair in red fabric. Model: Alky. Seat height: 39 cm. Wear due to time and age.Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsMetal
- Large Diamond Chair by Harry Bertoia for Knoll, 1970sBy Harry Bertoia, KnollLocated in Lasne, BEArmchair in metal and blue fabric by Harry Bertoia. Large Diamond model. Seat height: 39 cm. Wear due to time and age.Category
Vintage 1970s Central American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsMetal
- Alky Chairs by Giancarlo Piretti for Anonima Castelli, 1970s, Set 2By Giancarlo Piretti, Anonima CastelliLocated in Lasne, BEPair of alky chairs in red fabric. Seat height: 37cm. Wear due to time and age.Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsMetal
- Tipi Chair by Eero Aarnio for AdeltaBy Adelta, Eero AarnioLocated in Dorchester, MACreated in 2002 by the Finnish designer Eero Aarnio for the German manufacturer Adelta, the Tipi Chair is an imaginative interpretation of what might consti...Category
Early 2000s German Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Eero Aarnio Red Pony ChairBy Adelta, Eero AarnioLocated in Madrid, ESPony chair upholstered with red textile. This iconic seat was originally designed by Finnish designer Eero Aarnio in 1972. It features a metal frame and foam upholstery, covered with...Category
Late 20th Century Finnish Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Iconic Eero Aarnio Giant Ball ChairBy Eero AarnioLocated in New York, NYhe Leather Ball Chair Designed by Eero Aarnio 1963 Designed by Eero Aarnio 1963 Designed by Eero Aarnio 1963 Designed by Eero Aarnio 1963 The Ball Chair was designed in the early 196...Category
2010s Finnish Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsAluminum
$53,782 / item - Iconic Eero Aarnio Blue Swivel Ball Lounge ChairBy Eero AarnioLocated in New York, NYThe Ball chair was designed in 1963 and debuted at the Cologne Furniture Fair in 1966. The chair is one of the most famous and beloved classics of Finni...Category
2010s Finnish Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsFabric, Fiberglass
$10,468 / item - Iconic Eero Aarnio Black Swivel Ball Lounge ChairBy Eero AarnioLocated in New York, NYThe ball chair was designed in 1963 and debuted at the Cologne Furniture Fair in 1966. The chair is one of the most famous and beloved classics of Finni...Category
2010s Finnish Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsFabric, Fiberglass
$10,468 / item - Customizable Iconic Eero Aarnio Swivel Ball Lounge ChairBy Eero AarnioLocated in New York, NYThe ball chair was designed in 1963 and debuted at the Cologne Furniture Fair in 1966. The chair is one of the most famous and beloved classics of Finni...Category
2010s Finnish Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsFabric, Fiberglass
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
The 21 Most Popular Mid-Century Modern Chairs
You know the designs, now get the stories about how they came to be.
The Ball Chair, Eero Aarnio’s Space Age Masterpiece, Was Almost Never Made
Now considered emblematic of 1960s mod aesthetics, the Finnish designer's famous creation was far from an overnight success.