Also known as the Globe Chair this striking yet extremely comfortable chair was created in 1962 as the first new design to come from Eero Aarnio after his becoming a freelancer. Created by the Fininsh designer to say that "here is a new design and a new designer", this exquisite piece of retro styled furniture was the first in his experiments into using plastics and organic form while breaking away from the traditional design conventions.
This chair was the first of three iconic chair designs created in the 1960's by Aarnio including the Pastil and the Bubble chairs in 1968. His furniture was often seen in sci-fi movies of the day due to the organic futuristic shapes of the pieces. This is notable as this chair was created at the height of the famous space race adding to this creations appeal to the periods science fiction enthusiasts.
The plans for this chair began when Aarnio decided he needed a new chair and he set out to make one. After several sketches Aarnio realized that his design had been simplifies to one of the simplest geometric shapes, a sphere. The ball itself was designed to a size allowing for the greatest comfort and then placed atop an aluminum swivel base and thus the Ball Chair was created.
