Lina Bo Bardi’s Bowl Chair by Arper

I might not have seen the Bowl Chair before January this year but something about it made me instantly think that it was a classic design. The shape and concept of the vessel-like chair is an idea so impractical, yet so practical.

Designed in 1951 by an activist of the Italian resistance movement, Lina Bo Bardi, the Bowl Chair echoes Lina Bo Bardi’s love for simple, functional, organic forms. The seat can be swivelled in different positions and perform multiple functions.

The key element is our interaction with the object, which was revolutionary for the 1950s, the Bowl Chair reinvented the way people sat–favouring natural and relaxed postures–and testified to a cultural change already underway when it was designed.

Arper has tackled the process of industrialisation of the production of Bo Bardi’s Bowl Chair for the first time, much to my delight. However, the Bo Bardi Bowl Chair will only be produced in a limited, numbered edition of just 500.

Each step of this process has been shared with the Instituto Lina Bo e P. M. Bardi, so that the limited edition Bowl Chair complies with the original design aspiration of Lina Bo Bardi and comes with a certificate to prove it.

In addition to the original black leather version, the Bowl chair is available in seven fabric colour options. Each colour option comes with three different sets of cushions to choose from, these include a set of one-colour cushions to match the colour of the shell, two-colour cushions or a pair of patterned cushions inspired by Lina Bo Bardi’s original sketches.

Designer: Lina Bo Bardi
Manufacturer: Arper
Year: 1951
Price: £4435


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