Easy chair "Ovalia"

Artist/Maker

DatesManufactured: Manufactured probably 1968 - 1970 Designed: Designed 1968

Material / Technique

Dimensionsh x diam: Mått 130 x 90 cm

Inventory numberNMK 19/2016

AcqusitionPurchase 2015 with funds by Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation

Other titlesTitle (sv): Fåtölj "Ovalia", med tillhörande transformator Title (en): Easy chair "Ovalia" Label (sv): Fåtölj "Ovalia"

DescriptionDescription: When the armchair was launched in 1968 at the Scandinavian Furniture Fair in Malmö, the music of Tom Jones was playing from the two speakers inside the chair. Thor-Larsen probably got the inspiration for the armchair that you would want to snuggle up in, from Eero Arnio’s Åskbollen from 1966, but he had already used the oval shape in his design of an oil container for outdoor use. On the movie poster of Men in Black II from 2002, Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith are sitting in Ovalias. In the space age, plastic symbolised the future. Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is unthinkable without its plastic settings and furniture. And what is the advice given to Dustin Hoffmann’s character in The Graduate? “Plastics, there’s a great future in plastics”. Andy Warhol summarises this era: “I love Los Angeles. I love Hollywood. They’re beautiful. Everybody’s plastic, but I love plastic. I want to be plastic.” Henrik Thor-Larsen’s Ovalia from 1968 is a typical piece of furniture. Built-in stereo loudspeakers and lights enhance the experience of being enveloped in a softly cushioned shell. Catalogue raisonné: New acquisition July 2016: Ovalia Egg Chair by Henrik Thor-Larsen Nationalmuseum has recently acquired a plastic easy chair by Danish designer Henrik Thor-Larsen (b. 1932), who worked in Sweden. The black egg-shaped chair was launched at the Scandinavian Furniture Fair in 1968 under the name Ovalia and became an instant hit. It was also manufactured in other colours. The chair was made by Torlan in Staffanstorp, Sweden, and sold internationally up until 1978. The design was then revived in 2005. The chair that Nationalmuseum has now acquired is amongst the early examples, having been purchased by leading furniture store Silverbergs in Malmö in the late 1960s. It comprises a black, glass fibre reinforced plastic shell, with an interior upholstered in beige fabric and an aluminium foot. Unusually, the chair has an integral light fitting with transformer – later chairs often had built-in speakers instead. The chair’s design and materials are typical of the forward-looking optimism of the 1960s and can be seen as a Swedish-Danish response to Finnish designer Eero Aarnio’s Ball Chair, which had been launched at the Cologne Furniture Fair two years earlier in 1966. The acquisition was made possible due to a donation from the Barbro Osher Foundation. Nationalmuseum has no budget of its own for new acquisitions, but relies on gifting and financial support from private funds and foundations to enhance its collections of fine art and craft.

Collection

Geographical origin

MaterialMetal, Stoppning, Aluminium (Metal), Polyester (Textile fibre)

TechniqueStoppad

Object category