Design Classic: Eames Lounger

Designers: Charles and Ray Eames, 1956

Details: Lounge chair and ottoman,from £4,260, Vitra at Chaplins

The chair and ottoman were meant as one-offs, but proved so popular, they are still in production 60 years on.

Charles Eames envisaged the chair as having ‘the warm look of a well-used baseman’s mitt’ and it fast became one of themost significant designs of the 20th century – immortalised when TV’s Frasier dedicated an entire episode to the fastidious psychiatrist’s favourite recliner.

Unlike the sleek, spare lines of other Eames designs, the lounge chair was created to be, first and foremost, inviting.

The chairs were made of molded plywood, heated, then bent and shaped, and upholstered in leather.

Balanced on a star-shaped aluminium base, early designs were in rosewood and black leather, but current versions also come in shades of walnut and cherry with luscious Ivory white leather.

The chair and ottoman duo were first developed as a gift for their film director friend Billy Wilder. Since its creation, it's become one of the most significant furniture designs of the 20th century and has found it's way into some of the world's most stylish homes, as well as manyleading museums and art galleries across the world.