The Ej Corona Chair has been designed by the Danish architect Poul Volther in 1961 and symbolizes the change that the Scandinavian mid century modern furniture industry was going to face in the 60s, even though it represented important ideological and manufacturing principles of the previous decade.
The Ej Corona Chair design is defined by four elliptical curved shapes that seem to be suspended in space and are supported by a chromium-plated steel frame and rotating base.
The covering was early manufactured in leather -later replaced by fabric- with a neoprene padding while the first frame was made of solid oak, replaced in 1962 -by its manufacturer Erik Jorgensen- with plywood to ease a larger-scale production.
During the 60s the Pop art and design culture found its way across Europe but -differently from British or Italian manufacturers- Scandinavian mid century modern designers were reluctant to abandon their tradition of a high-quality manufacture and production. The disposable ethic so enthusiastically supported by other European manufacturers found skeptical the early 60s Scandinavian designers and companies.
Instead, the avant-garde Scandinavian endeavor found its way in the visually organic legacy of Arne Jacobsen that lead the way of design with his innovative, single-seat shell constructions which supported high-density, rigid polyurethane.
The Ej Corona Chair represents the compromise of Scandinavian traditional high quality design and the more mass-producible Pop design.
The forms and signifiers of the Pop culture certainly had an impact and appealed but a truthful use of materials continued to be the standard for designers as Volther convinced that the quality production was way to go.
To read more design stories about other iconic mid century furniture, I would recommend you to check now the Mid Century Icons Page !
All pics in this post are via here.
