Leather Chaise Lounge

Quick! Name the most famous chairs in history. The chair of St. Peter at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome might make the list. The Chippendale chair, of course, and the Louis XIII. Archie Bunker's famous chair, from the 1970s TV series "All in the Family," now sits in the Smithsonian Museum.

But one of the most innovative pieces of furniture, which made statements both social and stylistic, emerged from the modernist movement of the 1920s - the leather chaise lounge by Swiss architect Le Corbusier.

Challenging Conventions
Reproductions of this groundbreaking piece of furniture are available today. However, most who purchase it might not be aware that this leather chaise lounge - with its sleek curvilinear style, light tubular steel, long cushion, and round headrest - is the bold social statement of a controversial architect.

Le Corbusier challenged conventional modes of design and urban planning. His leather chaise lounge was meant as an efficient, mass-produced piece of adaptable furniture that nonetheless demonstrated a commitment to beauty and art.

Over the years, critics accused Le Corbusier of promoting authoritarian ideas and lofty ideals. His leather chaise lounge, meanwhile, has come to be regarded as a classic piece of 20th-century furniture.

While Corbusier conceived of his leather chaise lounge as a solution for the "problem" of furnishing a home, creating a piece that was easy to assemble and easy to move, it has since come to be associated with glamour and sophistication, its social connotations more a topic for historians than for interior designers. Reclining on Corbusier's leather chaise lounge, you'll be thinking less about social change, and more about martinis and cigars.

Modern Man
And speaking of cigars, masculinity was another new element introduced to the chaise lounge style. Up until Le Corbusier's leather chaise lounge, the chaise was often overstuffed and flowery, ornate and feminine, more appropriate for fainting women, taken by the vapors, than for men more accustomed to wingback chairs next to the fireplace.

Interestingly, it was a woman, Charlotte Perriand, who worked closely with Le Corbusier on designing his famous leather chaise lounge.