Maison Jansen Lounge Chairs for Saint Gobain 1970, Set of 2

Design
1970

Manufacture
1970-1979

Location
Lonigo, IT

Maison Jansen lounge chairs for Saint-Gobain, smoked glass, anodized aluminium and leather, France, 1970, set of two.

Few chairs from the Space Age period carry the material tension these do — a single curved shell of Saint-Gobain smoked glass, semi-transparent and cool to the touch, paired with a cantilevered base of matte anodized aluminum that folds under itself with almost aeronautical precision. The cushions, in original cream leather with button tufting, sit loosely within the glass cradle, held by the geometry rather than by attachment.
Maison Jansen produced these chairs in France around 1970, at a moment when the firm's output was at its most experimental — industrially minded in material, sculptural in form. The use of Saint-Gobain glass as a structural seating surface is particular to this model and reflects both the ambition and the industrial networks Jansen could draw on. The smoked glass reads differently depending on the light: translucent from the front, nearly opaque from behind, as the detail photographs show.

The set can be split. The lounge chairs can be sold singularly.