Aluminum Office Chairs Made by Emeco Co.
View Similar Items
Aluminum Office Chairs Made by Emeco Co.
About the Item
- Creator:Emeco (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 38 in (96.52 cm)Width: 23.5 in (59.69 cm)Depth: 26 in (66.04 cm)Seat Height: 21 in (53.34 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Frame original, new leather upholstery.
- Seller Location:Hudson, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU84739961593
Emeco
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.
- Vintage Emeco Corp Art Deco Brushed Aluminum Black Swivel Office Desk ChairBy EmecoLocated in Philadelphia, PAVintage Emeco Corp Art Deco Brushed Aluminum Black Swivel Office Desk Chair. Item features an adjustable height, sculpted aluminum base, black vinyl upho...Category
Early 20th Century Art Deco Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
MaterialsAluminum
- Jasper Morrison Emeco Navy Officer Swivel Office Armchair, Aluminum & AdjustableBy Jasper Morrison, EmecoLocated in Miami, FLJasper Morrison Emeco Navy Officer Swivel Office Armchair Offered for sale is a "Navy Officer" adjustable recycled aluminum and fabric upholstered office c...Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs ...
MaterialsAluminum
- Original Aluminum and Perforated Vinyl Emeco "Navy" Desk or Armchair, 1965By EmecoLocated in Miami, FLVintage navy chair rendered in aluminum frame and original perforated vinyl upholstery by Emeco, original contract piece for the Federal government ...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
MaterialsAluminum
$1,375 Sale Price75% Off - Hickory Leather Co. Excecutive Office Guest ChairsBy Hickory Leather CompanyLocated in Germantown, MDHickory Leather Co. Executive office guest chairs matching top grain leather chairs. Made by Hickory Leather. Nail trim Measurements: 24"W x 26"D ...Category
Late 20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsLeather, Mahogany
$1,235 Sale Price / set35% Off - Mid Century Black Leather Aluminum Group Office Chair by Eames for Herman MillerBy Charles and Ray Eames, Herman MillerLocated in Detroit, MIThe Aluminum Group Management office chair designed by Charles & Ray Eames for Herman Miller is from the Eames Aluminum Group Collection. These distinctive chairs resulted from the E...Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Office Chairs ...
MaterialsAluminum, Steel
- Herman Miller Aluminum Group Side office chair in Mesh by Charles EamesBy Herman Miller, Charles EamesLocated in BROOKLYN, NYModern Herman Miller Eames Aluminum Group side office chair in Black Mesh. These chairs have no arms / no casters / no height adjustment, but These chairs do swivel. Labeled under fr...Category
Early 2000s American Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
MaterialsAluminum